It All Started With A
by 7colornotebook
Summary: Eiji, Momo, and Fuji started a bet about Tezuka finding the girl of his dreams. Everyone knows that's impossible but all of a sudden, a girl shows up out of nowhere and meets the captain. Will it be a yes or no? Bad at summaries, R&R, TezukaxOCxOC
1. It All Started With A Bet

**Hey everyone!! Yeah... this is my 1st fanfic ever posted so yeah...sorry if it sucks :P**

**Enjoy reading!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, if I did then that would be really awesome. **

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Chapter 1: It All Started With A Bet

"Nyaa!! Have you guys ever wondered if buchou has ever fallen in love?" asked Eiji with a grin that almost reached the edges of his face. It was after practice, and only a few of the regulars were still on the court, namely Eiji, Fuji, Oishi and Momoshiro. The rest have already left for the reasons that they had something else to do, they were in a hurry or they feared the stampede of love-struck fangirls.

"Dunno. I doubt he ever could anyway." Momo said as he started packing his things.

"Then again, he IS human. I guess he still has the ability to do that anyway…" commented Fuji with his usual sadistic smile. He looked up at the gray and cloudy sky while waiting for those two to finish. '_Hmm…seems like it's gonna rain soon…' _he thought and looked back at the others. "Okay!! I'm done!! Let's go then." they said.

They slowly headed to the gate leading back to the school. "Up until now I've noticed that he hasn't shown any signs of interest for any of the girls he's met..." Oishi remarked as he looked over to his companions "What do you think?"

"Yeah that's true..." Eiji closed his eyes "But who knows? Maybe a girl could come at anytime and sweep ol' sempai off his feet. Then maybe he'd be nicer and he'd go easier on us!!" He said while trying to picture a happy-go-lucky laughing Tezuka in his mind.

"Nah…I doubt that...Wishful thinking, Eiji, wishful thinking…" Fuji sighed

They walked in silence, thinking of all the things they'd said and heard just then. Finally they reached the school door.

"Well I have to go now, I've got something to do." said Oishi to the others. "Right then, Ja!" he shouted and ran into the school ahead.

"Wow he sure was in a hurry…"remarked Eiji, surprised.

He looked back at the other two, expecting a comment, but there was only silence.

"Well then, let's have a bet!" he exclaimed happily. "You guys bet that buchou will not fall in love this year and never will—"

"Oi!! I didn't say that he'll NEVER fall in love—"Momo shouted.

"Yeah, I didn't say that either." said Fuji.

"Eh?" Eiji looked at both of them and sighed. "Fine then nyaa you guys bet that buchou will NOT fall in love this year, and I bet that he WILL fall in love this year." Eiji crossed his arms over his chest and grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

"What's the prize then? Or, should I say the consequence for losing this bet?" Momoshiro asked Eiji. All three of them looked at each other in silence as a breeze blew the leaves of the trees, making the scene more intense.

"Ah…I know…" the two looked at Fuji as his smile grew more sadistic. "The losers have to do whatever the winner says for an entire month, without any complaints."

"Eh!? AN ENTIRE MONTH!?" Eiji and Momo paused for a moment

"Fine then." said Momo,

"Sounds fun nyaa!" said a very excited Eiji.

"Just don't cry if you lose." said Fuji to both of them.

"Yeah, yeah. So I guess we should head back to class now?" said Momo, opening the door.

"NYAA!?" Eiji's scream made all of them jump. "SHOOT! WE FORGOT ALL ABOUT CLASSES!!" "EH!? YOU'RE RIGHT!!" And with that, they all sped back into the school.

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**Yeah...that's about it. Of course I have another chapter...but I'm sort of still working on it. xD **

**Thanks kataiookami for helping me in proofreading and yeah!**

**'til next time :P**


	2. Valentine's Day And Getting Lost

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Hey everyone reading! kuripsu here introducing to you the 2nd chapter!

**Yeah...2nd chapter...yeah...I finally introduce buchou and the OC herself :P **

**Yeah, I know this isn't a really popular story but I enjoy writing it anyway!! I hope you enjoy reading this (to whoever's gonna read it...) as much as I enjoyed writing :P**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Prince of Tennis, if I did, my friend would go crazy xD**

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Chapter 2: Valentine's Day and Getting Lost

The next day was Valentine's Day. A day where girls would give chocolates to the one they love or the ones that they will confess their love to. This day was special for most people, although it was a bother to others. One of these people was Tezuka Kunimitsu. He hated the fact that his fangirls would stalk him with boxes of chocolates wherever he went and confess their strange obsession for him. It was annoying.

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AFTER CLASSES

"Kyaa!! Tezuka-sama!!" a group of girls flooded into the classroom holding packs and boxes of chocolates. Everyone else in the room stared at them, clearly surprised, except for Tezuka of course.

"Tezuka-sama!! Over here!!" the girls all squealed with delight and neared Tezuka's table.

"Hn." He mumbled while placing the remainders of his things into his bag.

"Tezuka-chama!!" shouted one girl.

"Please accept my chocolate!!" shouted another.

"Kyaa!!" they all swooned in unison.

Tezuka took his bag and walked out of the room, completely ignoring all the crazed fangirls.

"He's so cool…" murmured the fangirl in front of all the others then she turned the shade of tomatoes and fell to the floor.

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Outside the school, Tezuka walked towards the school gate. He looked up to the sky and saw the red orange sun slowly setting behind the trees.

"Ah…!" he inserted his hand in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"The shopping list…good thing I didn't forget about it."

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FLASHBACK

It was earlier this morning, Tezuka was about to leave for school. Just as he opened the door, a woman's voice cried out from behind him.

"Anou Kunimitsu-kun? Can you please get the groceries for me later after school? You see, I'm going to have some friends over…" the woman handed over the shopping list to Tezuka.

"Ah, hai oka-san."

END OF FLASHBACK

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Tezuka turned around a corner into the street where the store located.

"Hmm…It seems that there are only a few items in the list…" he said looking down at the list.

"It shouldn't take too long…"

"Ne…excuse me…Eyeglass-san…?"

"Hn?" Tezuka looked up from the list to see a girl right in front of him.

He was surprised, only it didn't show on his always stoic face. The girl looked at him, awaiting a reply. She didn't look like any girl from Japan.

'_Probably a foreigner…' _thought Tezuka.

Her wavy shoulder-length hair and her skin were the color of dark chocolate. Her skin was unblemished and it was slightly darker than his.

'_It looks so soft…Wait…What?' _His thoughts stopped suddenly and he remembered that the girl was addressing him.

"Do you need anything?" he asked the girl.

"Anou…" the girl's voice quivered. She was clearly intimidated by Tezuka's strict appearance.

"I was wondering where I could find Seishun Academy…you see…I sort of got lost…" The girl gave a nervous chuckle and looked away, obviously embarrassed by what she just said.

"…"

Tezuka pointed to the direction where he just came from.

"It's there. ...around that corner, then head straight 'til you see the school."

He looked back at the girl.

"A-arigatou!!" the girl stuttered and bowed to show gratitude, making her dark chocolate hair roll down from behind her shoulders. This was the only time that Tezuka noticed she wore a cute red ribbon to hold her hair up in a half-ponytail. She looked up to see him looking at her, then she immediately blushed.

"Ah! I really must be going!" she ran towards the direction Tezuka was pointing at earlier. Of course, by doing this, she passed by Tezuka, and when she did, he caught the scent of watermelons. His face became slightly warm.

She turned back to see him still looking at her. "Goodbye! And thanks again Eyeglass-san!!" she exclaimed happily and she turned around the corner disappearing from his sight.

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**Yeah That's about it... I'm working on the 3rd chapter now...sorry if you didn't like it anyway...if there were any grammar errors and if Tezuka was a little bit OOC...yeah and if the OC or fangirls were a little bit weird xD**

**Anyways, thanks for reading this poorly-made fanfic, GAH! It's my 1st try anyway :P**

**Kk. Bai bai!!**


	3. Get Off My Trail! A Misunderstanding!

**Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Yay!! I feel warm and fuzzy now :3**

**Thanks Archerygrl1992 and karishina-KUN for the advice and fujilovesme, kataiookami and luthien-yavetil for proofreading and reviewing!**

**By the way, words in English will be underlined and Tezuka will be OOC in this chapters and maybe in the following chapters too. Anyway, it's a fanfic right!? xD**

**Kk, now to the story!! **

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Chapter 3: Get off my trail!! A Little Misunderstanding!!

'_Who was that girl??…She seems a bit strange…"_ He looked back at the direction where she left then he continued walking towards the store. '_Although…she did have a really a nice smile…' _Tezuka stopped walking. _'Wait…what am I thinking??' _He shook his head. "I'd better get back to the shopping list…"

He entered the store.

"Irasshiaimase!" the storekeeper cheerfully greeted him as he stepped into the store.

"Hn."

Tezuka merely nodded to the shopkeeper and walked hurriedly to one of the shelves. "I guess all the items are found on this shelf…" he said to himself quietly. Soon, he was done. He looked at the clock while waiting for his change at the cashier. _'5:30…It's getting late…' _

"Thank you very much sir! Please come again!" The shopkeeper handed him the bag of groceries.

"Hn, thanks." He said with his usual tone of voice, then he headed out of the shop.

Outside, the sun was at its lowest, making the sky purplish and the clouds light orange. There was no one in sight. Except that…from the corner of his eye, he saw the girl he had met earlier. She was walking opposite the direction of Seishun Academy with her head bent rather low. For some strange reason, Tezuka started approaching her.

"Oi."

The girl looked up to see Tezuka looking down on her. **(A/N: Yes, LITERALLY, looking down on her, he must either be really tall, or the girl must've been short. :P)**

'_Nyu…he's so tall…Eyeglass-san…' _the girl thought. "H-hai?" she stammered.

"Were you able to find it?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"The academy, I mean."

"Oh!" She bopped her head lightly and stuck out her tongue. "Sorry, I forgot! Oops…silly me!"

Somehow this action made his face feel warm again.

"Yeah, I did. Although all the gates were closed, and there was no one to ask questions to…" she sighed.

"Well of course it's closed." He said matter-of-factly. "It's past school hours."

"Oh…! I forgot…you see, it's different where I'm from…" she said with an embarrassed smile.

'So she IS a foreigner…' he concluded his thoughts earlier.

The streetlamps started opening one-by-one.

"Well…It's getting dark…" she said, cutting his trail of thought. "I'd better be going now." She smiled.

"It was nice meeting you Eyeglass-san." She bowed slightly then hurried past Tezuka.

When there was some distance between them, she pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. "I'll try again tomorrow then" she said optimistically. She took a look at the piece of paper she was holding. It had a few directions and an address in it, in English.

"Okay…" she said to herself. "I'm supposed to go to this address…" she turned left. "Yes It's near here, so no worries about taking the bus or anything!" She folded the paper and put it back in her bag. She only started to hum a happy tune, when suddenly she heard a pair of footsteps behind. She stopped.

'Eh!? Could it be? A…really…bad person is…IS STALKING ME!!' she panicked a little. Weird thoughts started popping in her head. 'No!! Don't think like that!!' she shouted in her mind.

From behind, Tezuka wondered why the girl suddenly stopped. _'I guess where she's going is on my way home…'_ he thought.

'_What's he going to do to me!?' _she gulped. '_No!! Ahh!! I'll just move faster then!!' _

With that, she started walking faster. Tezuka started walking faster too. _'It's really dangerous for a girl to walk out alone at night. I'd better keep an eye on her.' _he decided, suddenly feeling protective.

The girl heard the footsteps speeding up too_._

'_He's still following me…!' _she felt very nervous.

"My cousins used to tell me weird stories of what could happen to a girl when she walks out alone at night…I never thought that they could actually be true…' she thought, walking a little bit faster. She could still feel the footsteps behind her.

"That's it!! I'm running!!" she cried out loud and started running at full speed.

'_Hn? Why'd she run all of a sudden?'_ he wondered, then started running after her.

"Eh…Why is this happening to me??" Tears formed in her eyes and she pushed herself even harder.

'I don't care where I'm going anymore…just…get off my trail!!' she shouted in her mind.

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**Alright, yeah chapter 3 is done for now! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, if it's weird then SORRY. Sticks and stones, reader, sticks and stones!! xD**

**See ya next time!**


	4. Gomen Nasai! What's your name?

**Yeah...Yay posted 2 chapters at once!! I'm really getting addicted to fanfic making!! I really hope this doesn't affect my drawing skills... ToT**

**Anyways, yeah it was like 10pm when I was putting this into the PC...(including the other chapter.) I'm sleepy, and my usual bedtime is at like 11...Why am I getting sleepy this early...? &yawn&**

**Anyways...enjoy the story and please point out any errors that you see...**

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Chapter 4: Gomen nasai! What's your name?

After running for a while, she turned right, into an alleyway, then stopped.

"Oh no…a dead end!! I'm trapped!!" she moaned. "If worse comes to worse, I'd better just use my Judo skills!!" she told herself, feeling a little more encouraged…until she remembered that she never listened to her teacher, then she lost all hope again.

The footsteps drew closer.

'_This is the end!! Waaah…goodbye childhood purity!!' _

She closed her eyes, awaiting in fear what the "stalker" would do next.

"Oi." She felt a hand on her shoulder and her blood went cold.

"Kyaa!! A pervert!!" she started to struggle, but the grip of the person behind her was firm.

'_Pervert?'_ wondered Tezuka.

"Let…go…of…me…!" she was finally able to turn around, and she smacked the stranger's face, hard. Tezuka immediately let go. She turned around to see a complete stranger, when she actually saw Tezuka, his cheek red from the hit.

"Ah!! Eyeglass-san!! You were the stalker!?" she asked, horrified.

"Stalker…!? No…You misunderstood me…" he explained, rubbing his cheek with his free hand.

'_She hits hard…_' he thought.

"Ah!! Gomen nasai!! I'm really, really sorry!!" she cried, embarrassed. She bowed again and again to show that she was really sorry.

"It's okay…" he mumbled. "It was my fault in the first place. I shouldn't have followed you…" he stopped rubbing his cheek. _'Ack…it still hurts…'_

"Even then, I'm really sorry…" she looked up to his face and saw the mark that she made. "Ah!!" she started panicking again, then out of impulse (and panic) her hand shot up to his cheek.

"Anou…wait…my mom taught me a way to get rid of the pain…um…or was it for bumping your head??" then she started scolding herself for forgetting.

Meanwhile, while she was busy thinking of a way to remove the pain, Tezuka's face kept on growing warmer by the second.

'_Her hand…'_ he stopped himself from thinking anymore than that.

"Excuse me…Ms…" he said rather awkwardly.

"Huh?" the girl looked up to see Tezuka's face looking a little bit red.

It took her a split second to realize what she was doing.

"Oh!!" she immediately let go and put her hands close to her chest.

"I'm really sorry!! AH!!" she bopped her head. "What's up with me today!?" she blushed furiously.

Tezuka felt his cheek. It was still warm, and the pain already faded away. Probably because he was too distracted by the hand to notice it go away.

'_Her hand…it was so soft…wait…what am I thinking of again?_ he thought.

"I'm really sorry for putting you in a situation like this!!" the girl said, her face still red but she wasn't looking at him. "I really must get going, before I do meet a real pervert." she said in a flurry **(A/N: It's a wonder why she didn't jumble up the words :P)** and rushed past him, obviously wanting to get away from the awkwardness.

Tezuka looked up to the sky. The first stars were already starting to come out, and the lights in the shops and buildings around him started to open.

'_Yeah…it is getting late…soon there'll be lots of strangers coming out…'_ he started walking again_. 'But…what will she do if she does meet one? She'll be all alone…'_ he turned right, the girl was still in his sight. _'Hn? Why am I so concerned? After all, she is a stranger…'_ he continued walking. _'Well, this is the way home anyway…I guess I'll really be forced to follow her…' _he started walking a little bit faster, to keep the girl in his sight, but taking care not to get too close to her this time.

They walked in silence, of course, considering the fact that they were walking a few feet apart from each other. When she turned left, he did too.

"Strange…" he said to himself quietly. "She's taking the exact same route I take when I'm going home…Well at this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if we turned out to be neighbors."

Finally, after walking for a while, the girl turned around a corner to a set of apartments. Tezuka stopped walking and looked at her direction. '_I guess this is where we part then.'_ He thought, feeling a little bit depressed. He was standing at the entrance of the corner. His house was up ahead, so he had no reason to follow the girl any longer. "Well then, goodbye strange girl." He said quietly and he started heading back to his house.

All of a sudden, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hn?" he looked back to see the girl behind him.

"How rude of me." She smiled at him and continued "We've been walking together all this time, and I haven't introduced myself yet."

Tezuka was surprised. **(A/N: Again!! :O)**

"That's right…" he had to agree.

"Well then, call me Mia." she said holding out her hand. "My name is Mia Ishida." she smiled again.

It took him a while to reply.

"Hn. My name is Tezuka Kunimitsu." He said taking hold of her outstretched hand. They shook.

"Nice to meet you Tezuka-san." She said cheerfully then let go of his hand. "Well, I'd better go now." She said for the nth time. "They'll probably worry why I'm so late." She bowed and headed back to the entrance of the apartment.

"Catch you later!!" She winked and ran inside.

Tezuka stood there for a moment, then went on his way home. Somehow, when that girl said his name, he felt strangely happy…

"Mia, eh?" he smiled inside and closed his eyes.

"She really is a strange girl."

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**Yes I know, the OC is named after my new cat. **

**Yes, I know that Tezuka is acting weird. **

**Yes, I know that it's weird that her surname is Japanese. **

**But that will be explained in the following in the following chapters!! (The surname, I mean...not her being named after my cat. Sorry, I was sleepy.) **

**Well, &yawn& nighty night. **

**Oh by the way, if you have any better suggestions for the first name of the OC...PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME!! (Yes, and that includes you okami and yavetil.) **

**And if you want any more pairings in this story, please tell me!!**

**Well then...I'm off to bed... &grabs stuffed toys and goes to other room&**

**DARN IT!! ASTERISKS DON'T WORK HERE!! **


	5. What Are You Thinking Of?

**Hey there! Kuripsu here, bringing you chapter 5!! Yay!! **

**Thanks everyone who read and reviewed my story (I'm so happy!!)**

**Chapter 5 is a pretty short chapter, it's weird and yeah...so if you want, criticize it!!** &**Neco-Arc Laugh&**

** -Asterisks don't work here!! Nor do the squiggly, happy lines or the kawaii smile...darn it!! **

**Remember, underlined words are spoken in English!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own POT, if I did, then my cousin would probably punch me in the face out of jealousy. xD**

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Chapter 5: …What are you thinking about?

"Hey Mia, what took you so long?? Hmm…let me guess…you got lost again, am I right??" teased a little boy with the same hair and skin color as Mia, who was sitting on a chair facing the door. He was reading a comic book with a duck on the cover. Mia stepped into the apartment, clossed the door, and fanned herself with her hand.

"Well, sort of…" she sighed, embarrassed. "Well, I'm off to bed now!" she removed her shoes and started to run to the door at the end of the corridor.

"Wait just a minute, young lady!!" a woman's voice came from one of the rooms in the corridor.

"Y-yes mom…?" she stopped and slowly turned to face the direction of the voice.

"Were you able to get the papers?" her mother's head poked out from the open door.

"Ah…no…they were closed you see…" she said looking a bit flustered "But don't worry!! I'll try again tomorrow!!" she said suddenly cheering up again.

"Hmm…make sure you aren't late next time." Her mother stepped closer to her. "Your friend is going to arrive a few days from now, and he's going to enroll in that academy, am I right?" she asked Mia.

"Yeah…temporarily…" she blushed a little. "Anyway, I'm tired. I've been wandering town the whole day…and…" she yawned.

"WHAT!? YOU GOT LOST AGAIN!?" her mom shouted, surprised.

"I knew it!!" piped up the boy sitting on the chair.

"Please Kyle…" Mia whispered. "Um…mommy? I'm really, really tired…" she rubbed her eyes.

"Alright then, if that's what you want…" her mom sighed "But you're going to miss dinner…"

Just then, smoke started coming out from the kitchen. "Ah!! My cooking!!" the mother ran back inside and came out a few seconds later with her eyes closed and looking really relieved. "Mia?" she opened her eyes, but saw she wasn't there anymore.

"She went back to her room already mommy!!" Kyle said happily, turning the page on his comic book.

"Oh alright…go and wash your hands now Ducky, it's nearly dinner." she said walking back to the kitchen.

"My name isn't Ducky!" Kyle pouted, but obeyed his mom anyway and followed after her.

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In her room…

Mia gave a small sigh when she entered the dim room. "Finally…I can relax…" she put her bag on the floor and flopped down on her bed without turning on the lights. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she felt something furry against her arm.

"Meow."

"Ah!! Socks!!" She sat up to see a black and white cat rubbing itself against her leg.

"Come here you…" she said lifting the cat and placing it on her lap.

"Meow!" Socks made himself comfortable and started purring loudly.

"Today was a very long day…" she said to no one in particular while stroking her cat's soft fur. She looked up to the ceiling. "I met a strange guy…He was all serious looking, but whenever he talked to me, his voice seemed all shaky…"

Socks' ears perked up.

"He helped me get to the academy…and followed me home." She paused. "Huh:? Followed me home??"

"Meow."

"Eh? How come I only noticed that now!?" she asked herself, suddenly feeling very nervous. "Was he…? No…I doubt that…I'm sure he wouldn't…he didn't look that like that kind of guy…I'm sure he just lives nearby, that's it…!!" she flopped back down on the bed.

"Meow!!" Socks protested and jumped out of the bed and walked over to the carpet, making himself more comfortable there.

"Anyway…I'm really grateful…that he watched over me all that time…as I went home…" she smiled. "What was his name again?" she closed her eyes really tight and tried to remember. '_Yeah…that's right…_' she relaxed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep. '_His name was…_'

"Tezuka…Tezuka Kunimitsu…" she whispered softly and fell asleep smiling.

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--The Next Day--

The sun beat down on the regulars as they had their practice. They were having a practice match. Ryoma vs. Momo.

"Go Ryoma!! Fight!!" cheered a girl with light brown pigtails "You can do it!!" she shouted at the top of her voice.

"You shouldn't shout Tomo-chan…you might distract Ryoma-kun and the others…" came a shy voice from an auburn haired girl right beside her.

"Aww, come on Sakuno!! I have to cheer for my love!! And besides, you have to admit that he really is good!!" Tomoka told her friend.

"Yeah…he is good…" Sakuno said shyly.

"Well, that's because he is Ochibi after all." Oishi laughed, overhearing their conversation.

Sakuno blushed and turned back to the game. '_Ryoma-kun…_'

Meanwhile, Tezuka and Fuji were sitting on the bench right in front of the court.

"…"

"Hm? You don't seem to be focusing on the match…" Fuji remarked.

Tezuka looked at him questioningly.

"Is there anything wrong?"

Tezuka looked at him for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something.

"Hn." He closed his eyes for a brief moment and turned back to the game.

'_I wonder what he's thinking about?_' Fuji looked worriedly at his friend. _'I hope it's nothing too serious…' _

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**Alright, that's it for now!! **

**Sorry if it was too short, you see, A LOT of interruptions have been happening...school is going to start in a week!! OH NO!! So yeah...I won't be able to post that fast so...sorry!**

**Yeah and the Ducky thing too...hahahahahaha, just don't mind that, I was feeling bored and random, so I just added that in. xD**

**Yeah and if it's possible, can you please pray for my grandma? She's been in the hospital for almost a month now...and she hasn't been showing any signs of recovery. ToT**

**Thanks!! **

**Oh by the way, if you're wondering why the notes before the story are oh so boring and dumb, blame the monkey. Not me.**

**Bai! :D**


	6. Welcome to Seishun Academy!

**Hello! Kuripsu here bringing you the 6th chapter!!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone! (Usui-kun...?) And also thanks for reading the story until this far...I'm so happy! Yay!**

**Oh, and if there are any errors in grammar or spelling yeah sorry...please point it out! :D**

**Well...here's the story...enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT. If I did then...uh...I don't know...I'll uh...give Okami some Chuckie... :o**

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Chapter 6: Let's Enroll! Welcome To Seishun Academy!

In front of the school, Mia stood in front of the gates. "Well, this is it!" she pushed open one of the gates and entered. Luckily for her, no one was around. "I really hope I'm not trespassing or anything…" she said to herself quietly as she entered the door. "Anyway…mom did make an appointment over the phone just before I left, right?" she assured herself "So…I guess it's okay!! But…where can I find the office?" she stopped walking and looked around her. She was already were the classrooms were found. "Oops…I think I went too far…" she said to herself.

"Nya!! Hey!!"

Mia turned around to see a cat looking at her. "A cat!?" she jumped back in surprise.

"A cat? No…no…" the 'cat' shook his head.

"Oh…it's a boy…that looks like a cat!!" she said laughing.

"That's right nya!!" the boy smiled too. '_I look like a cat??_' Eiji thought. "Anyway, don't you know nya!? Outsiders aren't allowed on school premises during school hours without an I.D or an appointment with the office!!" he pointed out.

"Oh!! I'm really sorry!! I do have an appointment with the office…it's just that…I'm sort of lost…" she said bowing her head in shame.

"Oh….Then in that case, come on!! I'll take you there nya!!" the boy motioned for her to follow him then went up some stairs.

"Thanks so much!!" she exclaimed happily and followed after him. '_I wonder why he keeps saying nya like a cat…?? Oh well, it's kind of cute!'_

"Did you say something?" Eiji asked, looking back at her.

"Ah, no." she said still following him.

After a while, they arrived in front of the office.

"Thanks so much Neko-san!" she thanked the boy as he walked away.

"No problem nya!!" the boy smiled and waved. "I'd better go now, I've got practice!!"

"Bye then!!"

"It was nice meeting you!"

"Same here nya!"

Soon, she was all alone in the corridor. '_People here are so nice..._' she sighed.

"Alright!! Time to go in!! Time to enroll myself and that person into this academy!" she cheered as she entered the office.

* * *

**Back to the regulars...**

"Nyaa!! I'm really sorry I'm late!!" Eiji cried when he arrived at the tennis court. "There was a foreign girl you see, and she needed help to get to the office…" he laughed nervously.

"Oh? Foreign girl?" asked Momo.

"Hmm…sounds like you were spending an awful lot of time helping that girl out, seeing how late you are…" Oishi smiled mischievously.

"Nya!! Hey!!"

'_Helping out a foreign girl…? Sounds familiar…'_ thought Tezuka as he walked over to Eiji.

"Eiji." He said in a commanding voice.

"H-hai?"

"20 laps."

"Aww…no fair…I just got here…" Eiji said under his breath and started to run.

"Hey, Eiji-senpai!" Momo shouted when Eiji was near him "Maybe next time you can bring your little friend out to practice one time, so she can see how good you play!" he teased.

"Nyaa this is too much!!" he whined as he ran. '_But…I really wonder what that girl was going to do in the office…? Nya, probably gonna enroll herself or something…_' he gave a little sigh. "But I do know, that she looked a lot younger than me…"

* * *

**Back to Mia...**

"Thank you very much sir!" Mia thanked an elderly man as she stepped out of the office.

"Here you will find your enrollment papers, you must fill them out today and submit them tomorrow…your receipt is there too, together with your requirements and your schedule."

The man smiled.

"Alright sir!!" she said starting to walk away.

And before I forget, welcome to Seishun Gakuen!" the man added "I'll see you in school tomorrow then!"

"Hai!" she said and walked out of the school building.

Outside, white, puffy clouds drifted towards the sun, making the ground much shadier and cooler.

"Hmm…" Mia pondered as she scanned through the papers the man gave her. "Requirements, schedule, class pass, receipts…" she said taking them out one by one and sorting them by paper size. **(A/N: Like what I do!! xD)** She flopped down on the now shady grass. "Hmm…according to this schedule…classes will be starting in a moment…" she looked around and saw a few students rushing into the building. "Figures, they're probably going to their next class right now…" she mused. She stood up and stretched. "Alright then, since no one will be around, I'll be able to explore!!"

'_Pok'_

'_Pok'_

"Hmm?" she turned to the direction of the sound. She closed her eyes and listened carefully. "Sounds like…tennis balls…and racquets…" she opened her eyes again. "Well then, I guess that's where I'll be starting my tour!" and with that, she started to head for the direction of the sound.

The regulars were already done practicing by the time Mia entered the place where the tennis courts were located.

"Hey cool…a tennis club…" she said to herself and watched from far away. "Looks like they're done practicing…"

"Alright then, I'll see you all at practice tomorrow at the same time." Tezuka told the others. "And you'd better not be late." He added, looking at Eiji.

"Hai." They said in unison, and started heading out of the gates.

"It looks like they're heading this way!!" She suddenly remembered that she was still considered an outsider to the school '_Until tomorrow_.' She thought and jumped behind a nearby tree.

Eiji waited a little while until the others were ahead of him until he whispered "Wah…Buchou is so mean…" to Momo and Oishi as they walked past the tree where Mia was hiding.

The others had gone ahead, leaving those three, Fuji and Tezuka.

"Well…it's your fault for being late." said Oishi.

"Yeah…but still…" moaned Eiji. He looked back to see a few people following behind them. Tezuka was in the back. 'Nyaa…at least the foreign girl was able to get to the office without any trouble…' he thought.

'_What's this!?_' thought Mia, suddenly panicking. '_I think I need to…a…a…' Achoo!_

She sneezed.

Suddenly, Oishi stopped. "Huh? Did you hear something??" he asked loudly.

They all stopped too.

"It sounded like a girl's sneeze…" Fuji said.

'Ah!! What do I do!?' Mia asked herself, panicking 'Why did I sneeze!?'

"…It's probably nothing." Tezuka said all of a sudden. "Anyway, if we don't hurry, we'll be late for class."

"Ah, you're right. Let's go then." Oishi agreed.

Mia heard the sounds of footsteps going away. 'Are they gone…?' she waited for a moment before standing up. She breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out of the tree. 'I guess I'll just wait until I'm positively sure that there's no one around before I continue…'

"Oi."

Mia gave a small 'eep!' of surprise and turned to see who had addressed her. She saw two tall guys, one with light brown hair and his eyes were closed, and the other one she'd met the day before, she immediately recognized him.

"E-Eyeglass-san!!" she exclaimed, surprised.

Tezuka smiled inside to hear her call him by that name again. He nodded slightly.

"Excuse me Ms, but what are you doing here…?" Fuji asked her.

"Eh…anou…well you see…" she began '_Honesty's the best policy!!_' she reminded herself. "I'm sort of exploring the school…I thought no one was going to be around seeing that it's nearly class time and I sort of ended up here, then I got startled to see that there were still some people here…so I hid…" she said truthfully.

"Eh…but hiding would've made you like a fugitive…" Fuji pointed out.

"Ah…! Eh…I guess you're right…" she laughed nervously and looked away.

"But don't you know? Outsiders aren't allowed to—"

"I do know!" she interrupted.

"Ah…?" Tezuka raised an eyebrow.

'_Oops…how rude…baka…you should be polite to your elders!!_' she scolded herself. "I'm really sorry for interrupting you Mr., you see, I was already told that…and I do have an appointment with the office." She smiled timidly. It was obvious she was getting more and more tense with each word spoken. Maybe it was because she was being interrogated, or maybe it was because she noticed Tezuka staring intently at her. '_Why is he staring at me? Did I do something against the law here!? Am I a criminal!?_' she thought, panicking.

'_Hmm…an appointment…? For what_?' thought Tezuka looking at Mia. Suddenly, he saw Mia fidget under his gaze. "Ah…!" he gasped (soft enough so no one could hear.) and looked away. She noticed this and immediately relaxed.

"Oh…in that case, we'll bring you to the office." Fuji smiled and held out his hand.

"Oh, that's okay!" Mia smiled back. "I already went there! You see, I just enrolled here and I wanted to be familiar with the school grounds!"

'_Enrolled?_' Tezuka felt a small surge of happiness when he heard her. '_I wonder what class she's going to be in…? Huh? Why am I so curious?' _

"Well then, in that case, welcome to Seishun Gakuen!" Fuji said with his usual smile. "Although…sorry we can't give you a tour of the school right now, we have a class to go to right now."

"Ah!! Then I'm really sorry for keeping you out here!!" she bowed, showing the same red ribbon she wore yesterday.

"Nah…It's okay…" he put his hand on her head.

'_!?_' Mia and Tezuka reacted at the same time. She immediately blushed and Tezuka suddenly felt angry.

'_What's he doing to her!?_' he thought heatedly.

"Fuji." He said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Hai?" he replied, his hand still on her head.

"Let's go."

"Oh, right…" he let go and started following after him. "Bye then Ms.!!" He looked back and waved.

Tezuka looked back at her and nodded.

"Ah…bye…" she said quietly, still in shock. She wasn't really looking at Fuji, instead she was looking at Tezuka. His face seemed flushed, and he seemed uneasy about something. '_I wonder why? And why was he staring at me so intently…?_' she wondered, not noticing that she was blushing. She closed her eyes and turned away. "Oh well, I guess I'll get my school requirements now!" she said, trying to put the incident away from her mind and went back to her school tour.

* * *

**Yeah...that's about it right now!!**

**Tell me if you want me to continue this fanfic or if I should just throw it down the drain...(Um...don't you mean trash can? Poor trees! ToT) I'm sort of having a teeny, tiny bit of a hard time trying to put the fluff and mush in the TezukaxOC pairing in the story...Yeah...with her being happy-go-lucky and...uh him being a statue... :P**

**Anyways, also say if you want me to put any other pairings in this fanfic (I already have a request for a RyoSaku pairing :D) and if you want something weird to happen to any of the characters there xD**

**And um...read okami's fanfic, Surprise Ryoma!! Too bad it's already done...It's awesome!! Hey Okami!! Make a bonus chap for your fans!! Please!? **

**Well, 'til next time! (Gosh, I really need a better 'bye bye' message...)**


	7. News of Arrivals!

**

* * *

**

Hey! Kuripsu here!!

**Thanks so much for reviewing! And also thanks for telling me not to give up on this story! Since you all told me that I should continue, and some of you forced me to...(Please...okami...not the clowns...)I will then!! &kicks trash can away and sings a song about carrots& o.o **

**Here is the 7th chapter!! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT. Haha...PoT is a funny acronym... :P**

* * *

Chapter 7: News Of Arrivals!!

The two made their way to their classrooms. _'Hmm…Tezuka looked a bit strange when that girl showed up…I wonder why…? Hmm…I'll try and check…'_ Fuji thought as he and Tezuka made their way to their classrooms. "She's really cute isn't she? And really pretty too." He remarked while they walked.

"Hn?" Tezuka looked at him, secretly shocked.

"And she seemed to know you…what did she call you again? Eyeglass-san?" Fuji snickered. "How come?"

"I gave her directions to this school yesterday…" he replied, leaving out a lot of things, he didn't really feel like talking now. '_What was that back there…? That anger…?_' he asked himself.

"What's her name anyway?" Fuji asked, testing Tezuka. Little did he know, he was making Tezuka more and more confused with his thoughts.

"Ishida…Mia…" Tezuka replied, obviously distracted by his own thoughts. '_Could it be jealousy? But I…don't feel anything for her…or do I??.._.' He asked himself '_Wait…what??_'

"Hmm….nice name…" Fuji said smiling. He looked at his friend, who looked like he was thinking really hard about something. "Huh? Is there anything wrong Tezuka?" he asked him.

"Ah…no…" he lied. '_That feeling was probably just protectiveness…not jealousy…_' he thought, trying to clear his thoughts.

"Alright, here's the classroom…" said Fuji, opening the door. '_I just said that so that he'd be aware of where he was…I wonder what he's thinking of? He seems so troubled…_'

They both entered the classroom at the same time. The students in the classroom were relaxed, some of them were at the front of the class, and almost all of them were talking noisily to one another. They looked around and saw that there was no teacher.

"Phew…at least we got here before the teacher did…" Fuji breathed a sigh of relief "When you told me to wait with you outside to check if there was really anyone there I thought we'd be late…" he told Tezuka. "Well, I'll be going to my seat now, see ya later Eyeglass-san!!" he snickered again and headed to his seat.

"Fuji."

Fuji stopped and looked at him. "Hai?" he asked.

"20 laps after classes."

"H-hai…" he turned back to his seat and smiled. '_Looks like I got to him after all…_' he concluded as he took his seat, from the corner of his eye, Tezuka did the same thing.

'_I wonder…was that feeling back there jealousy??_' Tezuka thought as he took a book out of his bag. '_If this issue is just going to trouble me, then I'd best just forget about it and study._' And with that, he opened the book he was holding and began reading, trying his hardest to block all the thoughts that came to his mind.

* * *

Late afternoon, the sun was setting and the students were starting to come out of the school gates. Mia was sleeping on the grass behind a tree, holding the school bag, some uniforms and the papers she got earlier that day.

_Ring. _

_Ring. _

'_Huh?_' she opened her eyes slightly '_Who could be calling me at this time?_' Mia rubbed her eyes and pulled out a cell phone from her bag.

"Hello?" she said drowsily, pressing on a button.

"Hey!" male voice from the speaker said.

"Oh, Hello!" she immediately woke up.

"I'm just calling to tell you that I'm going to arrive in Japan tomorrow afternoon…at about 5pm…"

"Tomorrow? How early…Alright…I'll be waiting for you at the airport then!" she nodded. "I can't wait for the competition!" she exclaimed out loud. Good thing the tree was far away from the school gates or anyone who would've heard her would've thought that she was crazy.

"It's just a competition…no need to be so excited about it…Well then, see you tomorrow!!" the voice replied.

"Okay, Bye!" Mia cheered and pressed the button on her cell phone.

She sighed. "Good thing I enrolled the both of us today…who knew that he'd be arriving tomorrow?" she felt her face, it was warm and she had a fluttery feeling in her chest. "Oh…I might be coming down with something, that's all…" she forced a laugh then stood up. "I'd better be going now, before the gate closes…"

There were only a few students left outside the school and they were all heading out of the gates, she proceeded to the gates as well, walking a few steps behind so she wouldn't be noticed. Mia looked up to the sky. It was a deep red orange. '_Hey…this is the same time I met Eyeglass-san…_' she giggled "Funny I bumped into him today too!" as soon as she said that, she bumped into something soft and fell backward.

"Itai…" she protested softly. She looked up to see a hand held out to her. "Oh…thanks…" she mumbled and took hold of the hand. She stood up to see Tezuka looking as startled as she was.

"Ishida-san…?" he was first to react this time. His face turned warmer than ever. He immediately let go of her hand and cleared his throat while trying his best to keep his usual stoic face on.

"Sorry about that!!" Mia exclaimed, her face also warm. "I wasn't looking where I was going!!" she bent down to pick up the papers.

"It's okay…" he said, bending down to help her. They both stood up and he handed her the papers he picked up.

"Thanks…" she said, her voice shaky from nervousness.

"Hn." Tezuka replied and looked away. Mia did the same.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them.

"A-anou…I'd best be going now" Mia started. "I'll be seeing you!!" she started walking past him.

"Ah…" Tezuka began all of a sudden.

"Hm?" Mia looked back at him.

Tezuka cleared his throat. "It's dangerous for you to walk out alone especially when it's getting dark like right now." He was right, the sky was becoming darker, and a few stars were starting to become visible.

"Ah! You're right!" she agreed. "Well, let's not have a repeat of yesterday!" she laughed. "Why don't we walk home together? After all, judging from yesterday, your house seems pretty near the apartments where I'm staying"

Tezuka was secretly astonished. He was sort of thrilled in the inside, but he didn't know why. _'These feelings…'_ He closed his eyes and nodded. "Hn. Fine." He said successfully hiding the emotion in his voice.

"Alright, let's go then!" she smiled.

Tezuka walked to her side and they both started walking together. For the first few minutes, there was only silence. Not the kind of uncomfortable silence they had earlier, but the kind that you enjoyed in another person's company.

"I wonder…was it coincidence or fate?" Mia said all of a sudden.

"Hn?" Tezuka looked at her questioningly.

"Oh…!! Did I say that out loud? Whoops…" she giggled.

Tezuka smiled inside.

"I was wondering if our meeting each other had something to do with fate…or sheer coincidence…" she looked up at Tezuka who was looking at her closely. "What do you think, Tezuka-san?" she got nervous again. _'Eyeglass-san sure has sharp eyes…'_

"Strange…" he answered apathetically. "Here you call me by my real name, but a while ago, you called me Eyeglass-san."

"Ah! Sorry, I was just so surprised back there."

"It was just coincidence." He said, answering her question earlier.

"Oh." They walked in silence. Tezuka looked at Mia. She appeared to be in deep thought.

"I don't think it's just coincidence." Mia said as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Meeting you yesterday, and meeting you today was really unexpected. It couldn't have been just coincidence, it must be fate!!" she said happily, then she began again, this time, talking more to herself than to Tezuka "Maybe, meeting Eyeglass-san has something to do with luck…or maybe even love?" she added all of a sudden.

Tezuka's face suddenly became very warm. _'!? L-love!?…_' He looked at Mia, who was still pondering over what she had just said. He cleared his throat awkwardly '_Hn. Probably just part of some schoolgirl fantasy._' He thought trying to prevent himself from blushing.

"Anyway, you said you enrolled into the school?" he said, hurriedly changing the subject.

"Huh?" she looked at him, her trail of thoughts broken. "Oh…yeah." She nodded. "Only temporarily though."

His heart sank a little. "Temporarily?" he asked.

"Yes. You see, I'm only enrolling for a little while because I agreed to accompany my friend to a competition, and there is one preliminary round before the real competition." She replied, her face was very red.

"A competition?"

"Yes…a music competition to be exact." She said softly, noticing that her face was warm and looking away so that Tezuka wouldn't notice it.

'_A Music Competition?' _He tried to remember where he had heard about it.

* * *

FLASHBACK

It was at the end of one of their practices. Tezuka was taking a long drink from his water bottle when he overheard a conversation between Ryoma and Momoshiro.

"Hey, I heard that your cousin is coming over with some of her friends." Momo said, grinning widely and messing up Ryoma's hair.

"Hn? Yeah. Hey stop that." Ryoma said pushing Momo's hand away from his hair.

"Okay, okay. Hey, what are they gonna do here anyway? How old are they and are they gonna stay long?" Momo asked, obviously interested.

"What's it to you anyway?" Ryoma asked while putting away the last of his tennis things.

"Aww, come on!! Please!?" Momo pleaded. "Please tell me!!"

"No."

"PLEASE!?"

"Fine." Ryoma sighed, annoyed. "They're coming here to watch a music competition, they're as old as me you pervert, and no they won't stay long." he said, already walking out of the court gates.

"Aww. Darn it." Momo said out loud and picked up his bag "Hey…wait a second…WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PERVERT!?" he shouted at Ryoma, but he wasn't there anymore. "Huh? Where'd you go?" he asked while looking around.

"Um…Momo? He already left…Nya…" Eiji said pointing at the gate.

"Eh!?" Momo looked out to see Ryoma already outside the tennis court and heading towards the school. "Hey!! Wait up!!" he cried and followed after Ryoma.

End of Flashback

* * *

"Well, this is where we part!" Mia said, tugging on Tezuka's sleeve and pointing to the direction of the apartments. She gave a small skip forward and looked back at him. "Thanks for walking me home Eyeglass—I mean, Tezuka-san!!" she bowed and looked back up. "Well, see you in school tomorrow!" she smiled and went on her way.

* * *

**Well, that's it for now...ooh...seems like Tezuka's really getting it bad...funny, I read about him doing the chicken dance (Complete with sound effects!!) in another fanfic earlier today... xD**

**Haha, today is the last day of summer, wah...school starts tomorrow...but for some strange reason...I don't really care...Maybe it's because I'm too engrossed in fanfic making to care about school :P**

**So I guess this means that I'll be posting chapters a lot slower...or maybe not, because of okami's excitement, I have to hurry with chapter 8, so expect it somewhere around this week!**

**Ja'ne! (HAHAHAHA!! NO MORE "'til next time!!" YAY!!)**


	8. I'm Going To Win! AND 1st Day In Seishun

**Hey!! **

**Haha…I am so, so, SO SORRY (bonks self on head and tries to prevent "The Glare.") that I haven't been able to post in a looong time…**

**I have 5 reasons:**

**-SCHOOL &dun dun dun&**

**-The PC was acting all crappy and it deleted all the fanfic files so I had to retype this…3 times I think…**

**-And again it has something to do with the crappy PC. It wouldn't let me edit the document online so sorry if this chapter has some grammar errors, weird thingies like the lines…and yeah…Once the PC is fixed, I promise that I will fix all these errors, but right now, you'll have to live with it…**

**-I got complaints about Tezuka being OOC, (Dude, it's a fanfic. What fun is a fanfic about a guy who acts like a block of wood on TV, if we can't change his personality, even if it's only for a little bit? xD) so I had to edit a few parts…**

**-…Then the PC deleted the files again.**

**Yeah so sorry again for posting late, forgive me for the errors, and expect to see Part 2 soon…(I had to cut this chap because it was too long.) Oh and, by the way, due to all these PC errors and stuffies, I had enough time to work all the way to chap 10. :P**

**Now…on to the story…!! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT. I'm sorry for not updating in a while, and feel free to say that **

**I'm a lousy writer… **

* * *

Chapter 8 Part 1: I'm Going To Win!!

"Well, this is where we part!" Mia said, tugging on Tezuka's sleeve and pointing to the direction of the apartment. She gave a small skip forward and looked back at him. "Thanks for walking me home Eyeglass—I mean, Tezuka-san!!" she bowed and looked back up. "Well, see you in school tomorrow!" she smiled and went on her way.

"Hn." Tezuka smiled to himself and went on his way. Little did he know, his conversation with Mia was seen by a certain group of people, namely, the three who had started the bet. Fuji. Momo and Eiji.

The three were in a store, sitting near the window. They were waiting for Fuji, who was busy looking at a display filled with cameras.

"Nya! Why are you looking at the cameras?" Eiji asked him, obviously bored from waiting.

"Yeah? Don't you already have one?" Momo asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Well, the cameras here are the upgraded versions…I just came to check them out…" Fuji replied as he picked one of the cameras up and looked at its features. "Hmm…this looks good…" he smiled to himself sadistically.

"Check them out huh? It looks like you're already going to buy one…Why? Is there anything coming up?" Eiji asked him as he stretched and turned to the window.

"Well…actually, no." Fuji said, putting back the camera on the shelf and facing them. "You'll never know when something interesting happens, am I right?" he gave a small sigh and went closer to them. "And if something interesting happens, I want to be there to film it." his smile grew more sadistic. "Well, let's go then?"

"Yeah. I'm hungry." Momo said, standing up and picking up his bag from the floor. Eiji did the same, except he was still looking at the window "What about you?" Momo asked him, already heading for the door with Fuji.

"Nyaa!!" Eiji shouted and pointed to the window. "I don't believe it!!"

"Huh? What's wrong?" the other two ran to him and looked at the direction where he was pointing then gasped.

Outside, Tezuka and a girl were walking side by side, and they seemed to be engaged in a conversation.

"WHAT!?" the three of them looked at each other.

"Buchou!? With a girl!?" Momo gasped.

"Quick! Let's check it out!" Fuji said, strangely excited, and they all dashed out of the store. Outside the shop door, the three looked left and right to see if anyone was watching them.

"No one in sight except those two!" Momo said.

"Shh! We have to be quiet from here on!" Fuji said putting his index finger to his mouth.

"Ah…oh sorry!" Momo whispered back. Slowly and quietly, the three of them made their way to the side of the street where Tezuka and the girl were walking.

"Alright…there are two alleyways where we can watch them without being seen. I think the best one would be the second alleyway, which is right there." Fuji pointed to the left. Indeed there was an alleyway. "You guys ready?"

'_How does he know all of these things!?' _Momo and Eiji wondered, feeling a little bit creeped out but nevertheless, they nodded.

"Let's go then." Fuji whispered. "Follow me, and be as quiet as you can." with that, he crept to the alleyway he pointed to, while Eiji and Momo followed.

"I don't get it nya! Why do we have to follow him like this?" Eiji protested softly when they got to the alleyway.

"Because…" Fuji said while taking a camera out of his bag "I want to see what's going on…"

"Do you always carry that thing around with you!?" Momo nearly shouted.

"No, only when I feel that something interesting is going to happen…" Fuji replied, starting to take pictures of the two secretly.

"Nyaa…this feels weird…I'm expecting a lot of laps from buchou when he finds out about this…" Eiji complained. "But then again nya, I want to see what's going on too!" he started peeking out from behind the wall of the alleyway. "Hey!! It's the girl I helped out earlier!!" He cried and looked back at the other two.

"Hm?" Momo poked his head out of the alleyway to take a look. "Whoa!! She sure looks cute!!" he grinned, "What is she doing with a guy like buchou!?"

"Yeah!" Eiji agreed, "I wonder who she is?"

"Well…I know her name is Ishida Mia." Fuji said, still clicking away at the button of his camera.

"Eh??" the two looked at him questioningly. "How did you know??"

"I met her earlier today. Remember the sneeze?" he replied, finally stopping to rest his index finger. _'There, all the pictures I need._' he smiled with satisfaction and started to check out the pictures he had taken just then. He counted them. There were exactly 18.

"What about the sneeze?" they asked him.

"Well, Tezuka and I were suspicious back then, so we waited beside the bushes and trees to see if anyone would come out. After a minute or so, she popped out from one of the plants." Fuji replied while staring at one particular picture he'd taken. '_Hm? What's this?_'

"But…how'd you know her name?" asked Momo nervously.

"She immediately recognized Tezuka when we called her attention. She called him Eyeglass-san…" he snickered, "After she told us the reason why she was hiding, Tezuka reminded me about classes and so we went on her way…" he said, leaving out most of the details.

"Oh…But how do you know—"

"She seemed to know buchou…so I asked him who she was and what happened to them. He only told me her name and he kept quiet the rest of the trip back to the classroom…" his voice trailed off as looked at the photo even more closely. It showed Mia looking like she was thinking hard about something, and Tezuka blushing slightly. "Hmm…strange…" he murmured.

"Eh?? What's strange?" both of them went closer to Fuji and took a look at the picture.

" Hmm…Interesting…" Momo remarked, crossing his arms.

"…"

"Huh? What's wrong Eiji?" Fuji asked, looking up from the picture.

Eiji just looked at both of them with a blank stare, looking like he just had a sudden realization.

"Hellooo??" Momo waved his hand in front of his face. There was still no answer.

"Eiji." Fuji went over and took Eiji's arm. "If you don't say something in the count of three, I'm going to crush your wrist until your hand pops out." He whispered dangerously.

"I think that's a little too much senpai…" Momo cringed with fear.

"One…"

Momo took a few steps back, fearing the worst that could happen.

"Two…" Fuji held Eiji's wrist up higher.

"Oh no!! I can't bear to watch it!!"

"Thr—"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! YAATA!! YES!! YES!! YES!!" the cat-like boy suddenly shook the scary tensai's hand away and started laughing and dancing around as if he had discovered an ancient civilization or something.

"Eh?" the two were dumbfounded. "What the…?"

"AHAHAHA!! BUCHOU LIKES HER!! IT'S ALL IN THAT PICTURE!! I'M GONNA WIN THE BET!!" he waved his arms excitedly in front of them.

"…That's it??"

"Yeah!!" he grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

"Well…you'll never know. Maybe he doesn't like her. Maybe it's just the heat that made his face red." Momo retorted, but Eiji wasn't listening. He was much too excited to do that.

"And besides…it's only one photo. You need more proof if you want to confirm that he really is in love." Fuji added.

"Huh?" Eiji stared at him for a while, his smile fading away, but this time it was slowly being replaced by a small, sly smile.

"?"

"Heeheehee…Fuji and Momo are denying it because they don't want to lose the bet…nya." He said with a mischievous grin plastered on his face.

"No we're not!!" Momo shouted. "It's the truth!! We need more proof!!"

"Momo's right." Fuji nodded, "We still can't be sure. Who knows? What if you're wrong, and you lose the bet? That would really be embarrassing, noh?" he smirked.

"Fine, fine…" Eiji murmured in defeat as he realized this, although he couldn't help but be really happy and excited in the inside.

"You say that, but why do you still sound so excited?" Fuji asked.

"Oooh!! The girl enrolled into the school today!! That means she'll be in school tomorrow!! That gives more opportunities for Tezuka and that girl to meet each other. And that means I have a better chance of winning!!" his eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Ah. But Eiji-sempai, you forgot one thing. That only depends on what class that girl is in and if buchou really does feel anything for her." Momo pointed out with a smirk that would annoy anyone who saw it.

"Well Momoshiro…I bet that—"

"Guys, it's getting late. We'd better go home now." Fuji interrupted before things could get any worse. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then."

"Fine."

"Nya…Fine."

"Bye…" With that, the three of them went on their separate ways.

* * *

Chapter 8 Part 2:

Eiji's Side

"I'm definitely gonna win this! I can feel it nya!!" he said cheerfully. "I won't lose to Momo or Fuji!! Go on Buchou!! Fighto!!" he cheered as he pumped my fist energetically in the air.

Momo's Side

"I'm not going to lose to that cat of a senpai!! Buchou CANNOT and WILL NOT fall in love with that girl!!" he shouted out loud with sheer determination. "After all, he's turned down every girl that's approached him. What chance does that girl have!?" Some people stared at him, wondering what a boy was doing, standing in the middle of the sidewalk and shouting at himself. Suddenly, his stomach grumbled. "Hahaha…" he laughed nervously, "Now I wonder what's for dinner…?"

Fuji's Side

"Hmm…this is getting interesting…I don't really care who wins the bet. I'll be happy just as long as I can keep taking these pictures…and if I get to torment someone…" he whispered to himself as his sadistic smile grew larger.

* * *

Back to the Present…

"Goodbye Eyeglass ah—I mean, Tezuka-san!!" Mia laughed and headed for her apartment.

He gave a small wave back and waited for her to enter the apartment before going on his way.

'_I wonder…what these feelings are…? This couldn't possibly be love…I mean…I only met her yesterday…' _he thought as he walked towards his house. '_But somehow…I feel strangely happy…whenever I see her…' _he reached the front door and opened it. _'These thoughts are so distracting…I can't even concentrate on my work now…I'd better just stop thinking about it and maybe even try to avoid her.' _

"Kunimitsu-kun!!" Dinner will be ready in a moment!!" his mother's voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Ah…hai…" he replied, and went inside his room.

* * *

The Next Day

Mia walked slowly through the school gates, she was wearing the Seishun Gakuen's schoolgirl uniform, and she seemed extremely uncomfortable in it. She walked awkwardly, and now and again she would look down at the dark green mini-skirt and try to pull it down to make it a little bit longer, but it always stayed the same length. _'I could never understand why Japanese schools made their students wear mini-skirts!!' _she gave an exasperated sigh and finally ignored it. Some students looked at her, surprised that there was a new student coming through the gates, while the others simply ignored her, probably worried about the school day ahead.

"They're all heading to where the classrooms are!! That means I have to hurry, because class is about to start!!" she realized, and started walking faster to the direction of the school office. "I have to find out what my class is first." She said, opening the office door.

"Hello there." came a dull voice when Mia was completely inside the boring gray box of an office.

She turned to see who had spoken to her. It was the secretary. She was sitting behind a desk noisily typing away on a PC. She couldn't help but stare at the secretary's flaming red hair, which was the only thing bright in the room. **(A/N: Aside from Mia and her bright green uniform. :P)**

"Uh…hello…I'm here for my schedule." She replied.

"Oh. You must be Ishida-san then."

"Yes Ms."

"I'm nearly done with it…just wait…" the secretary's monotonous voice trailed off as she looked back at her computer and started typing again. After adding a few more words, she stopped and pressed a button.

_'Crrreeeeeaaaakkk…'_

A loud creaky noise came from the printer as it rattled violently.

"Ah!" Mia gasped and jumped back, intimidated by the vibrations and the loud sound it made.

"Don't worry. It does this all the time." The secretary assured nonchalantly and banged on the machine with her fist, while the other hand was busy typing something else on the PC.

'_!!' _Mia stiffened up because of tension.

After the third hit, the printer immediately stopped shaking, and out popped a small piece of paper.

"Here." She said taking the paper from the machine with a quick swipe and handing it over to Mia. "Read it and see if there are any errors." She exposed her flashy white teeth, meaning it to be an encouraging smile but failed, making it look more like a sneer.

"Uh…thanks…" murmured Mia, taking the schedule from the woman's outstretched hand. She looked down to read the schedule, but cautiously looked up again. The woman had already turned back to her work. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked down to read again, much more relaxed.

SCHEDULE:

1st Period- Arithmetic

2nd Period- History

BREAK

3rd Period- Literature

4th Period- Science

BREAK

5th Period- Music/Arts

6th Period- Study Hall

Mia scanned the paper and looked up the secretary, who was still busy typing away at her PC.

"Anou…excuse me…but what class am I in?" she asked while glancing up at the clock. The 1st class had already begun.

"Oh. You see Ishida-san; we had a problem with the files you gave us yesterday…" she replied without looking up from her work.

"A problem?"

"Yes…there was a confusion…about what class we would put you in…it had something to do with your age…and class in your previous school…" the woman said, finally stopping her work and looking up at her.

"So what class am I in?" Mia repeated, getting a little bit worried and impatient.

"According to my file…" the woman said, glancing at an envelope beside her computer, "It says that you're in class…"

* * *

Ryoma's and Sakuno's Class

It was the middle of math class; the teacher was in the front of the class, writing formulas on the board. Almost every one of the students seemed bored, and it was still the first class of the day. One of those people is Ryoma. He wasn't daydreaming but he wasn't paying any attention to the teacher either. He just stared blankly at the board full of formulas while he rested his head on his palm.

'_Ryoma-kun…_' thought Sakuno, looking at him shyly from her seat not too far away from him. _'I wonder…what he's thinking of…? Maybe it's tennis…or maybe it's another thing…like a person…I wonder...who could it be?' _she wondered, still looking at him. All of a sudden, he turned his head (nearly looking at her) and yawned_. '!!' _Sakuno blushed furiously and looked down, hiding the shy smile plastered on her face. '_Ryoma-kun…' _

'_Knock'_

'_Knock'_

"Hm?" Everyone in the room turned to face the door, as Sakuno did this, Ryoma glanced at her for a second and noticed the redness on her face.

'_What's she blushing about?'_ he wondered, secretly hoping it wasn't because of some guy he didn't know about.

"Come in!!"

With that, the door slid open and a girl stepped into the classroom. She was slightly taller than Ryoma; her skin was slightly darker than theirs and she had shoulder-length auburn hair tied back into a half ponytail with a red ribbon.

'_An exchange student eh? I don't really care…'_ Ryoma yawned again and rested his head on the table.

She headed over to the teacher and handed her a slip of paper. The teacher scanned it for a moment and looked back at the class.

"Alright class!!" she said, gesturing to the girl beside her. "I'd like to introduce you to a new student. Starting today she will be part of this class." Then she turned back to the student and gestured to the class. "Please introduce yourself Ms.!"

"Ah…hai…" she replied quietly_ 'Ah!! Darn stage fright!!'_ she shouted in her mind and stepped forward.

"H-hello everyone, m-my name is Ishida Mia, it's very nice to meet you!" she bowed lightly then stood up straight, then she gave a shy smile. (This made some of the boys in the class smile and sigh. - -lll)

"Alright everyone! Now that you know her name, I want you guys to get to know her better and become friends alright?"

"Hai!!" the students exclaimed in unison, some of them even more enthusiastic than the others.

"Now…Ishida-san…you can sit…" the teacher said as she scanned the classroom for an empty seat. "Ah. Right there, next to Ryuzaki-san." She said pointing at the empty seat next to Sakuno.

"Hai." She nodded and started heading towards the empty chair. Murmurs of excitement erupted from the class as she passed by the students to get her seat.

"Quiet down! Quiet down!" The teacher said when Mia had settled down. The students gradually ceased their noise and started paying attention to the teacher, who had now continued the lesson. Although some of them were a little bit too distracted with the idea that they had a new classmate to listen to the boring math lesson.

'_Phew…I'm glad I'm sitting somewhere near the back…' _Mia breathed a sigh of relief, '_But…I still feel like they're all staring at me…' _she cringed.

Sakuno, who was sitting right beside her, noticed how nervous she was. '_I'd better make her feel more comfortable here…' _she thought as she moved her seat closer to Mia's. "Hello there!" she said happily, but in a hushed tone of voice.

Mia looked up to see Sakuno's smiling face in front of hers. "Oh! Hello!" she whispered back.

"My name is Ryuzaki Sakuno! Welcome to the class!" she held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you Ryuzaki-san!" she took hold of the hand and they shook.

"So what brings you here to Seishun Gakuen Ishida-san?"

"Oh, I'm just attending for a while…you know…a competition…" Mia whispered back with a goofy smile.

"Haha…well…since it's only temporarily, let's make the most out of your stay here in the academy. Let's hang out after class!!" came a cheerful voice from behind them.

"Huh??" both girls turned around to see a girl's grinning face behind them.

"Ah!! Tomo-chan!!" Sakuno nearly cried out loud, but good thing Mia stopped her in the nick of time.

"Yup!! That's me!!" she said out loud, and then checked to see if the teacher could hear them. "Okay, we're clear!!" she held out her hand. "My name is Tomoka!! You can call me Tomo-chan!!""

"Nice to meet you Tomo-chan!!" they shook hands.

"So it's decided!! After classes let us go watch the regulars' practice!!"

"Eh!? But Tomo-chan…Ishida-san might have some plans already…"

"No, I'm okay with it! I'd like to watch your school's regulars practice!" Mia smiled in agreement. _'Um…regulars for what…?'_

"Alright!!" Tomoka cried out loud and punched her fist energetically into the air.

"Hm?" everyone turned around to look at her, including Ryoma.

"Hahaha…" she laughed nervously, "Sorry…" she sighed and sat back down on her seat. Mia and Sakuno just looked at each other and smiled.

* * *

After The First Two Classes…In a corridor with only like…2 students…

'_I wonder…where he is…'_ Sakuno thought as she walked down the corridor while looking for someone. '_I'm going to ask him…this time I made a lunch box for him…I'll be brave…' _she looked up to see the boy who she was looking for standing beside the window, looking down at the scenery. She ran up to him, trying her best not to look to eager, but failed. "A-anou…R-Ryoma-kun…" she said softly when she was near him.

Ryoma looked up to see Sakuno in front of him with her face in different shades of red. "What?" he asked cockily.

"Ah…" Sakuno turned her gaze to his shoulder, so she wouldn't have to look at his eyes. "I made you…" she stopped in mid-sentence and gulped. She could feel the adrenaline rush into her cheeks.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"I-I mean…w-what I'm trying t-to say is…w-would you like t-to…" she tried her best not to stutter. She took a deep breath "Ryoma-kun!! Would you like to--!"

"Fine, I'll go with you later then." He said casually, as if he'd already known what she was going to say.

"Huh?" she looked up cautiously to see him with his eyes closed.

"I said yes." He opened his eyes again to see that she was smiling brightly at him. He smirked as he put both his hands on her rosy cheeks and looked at her straight in the eye. "Hmm…"

'R-Ryoma-kun!' her face grew very hot, she and could hear her heart racing wildly in her ears.

He leaned in closer, his cat-like eyes looking deep into her chocolaty, almond eyes.

'_Ah…nani…?'_ she closed her eyes and braced herself for the next action that probably wasn't going to be good.

"Klutz."

Sakuno felt a sharp pain on her forehead, and Ryoma's hold on her was gone. "Itai…" she protested and opened her eyes. Ryoma was already walking away. "R-Ryoma-kun…? What was that for?" she asked softly, more to herself than to Ryoma. Just as she said that, Ryoma looked back at her.

"Your face was too red. You looked like a strawberry." He said nonchalantly.

Sakuno just stared at him, still blushing.

"Hn." He turned around to the direction where he was going earlier, "See ya later then Strawberry-face." He raised his arm halfway then continued down the corridor. Soon, Sakuno was the only one left in the hallway.

"Ryoma-kun…" she murmured softly and wiped her eyes. Then she smiled brightly. _'Ryoma-kun went really close to me!! He really did!!' _she laughed and spun around. As she stopped, she saw a familiar face glaring at her. "Huh? Tomo-chan?"

Tomoka screeched and pointed a finger accusingly at Sakuno. "WE WERE SEARCHING AROUND THE WHOLE SCHOOL FOR YOU AND HERE YOU ARE JUST SPINNING AROUND AS IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY OR SOMETHING!!" she took a deep breath and softened her tone a bit as she pointed to something behind her. "Wah Sakuno!! We're late for the tour now!!" Sakuno bent to the side and saw a very dirty and messed-up Mia. Her face and skirt were dirty, and her hair was a mess. It was as if Tomo had dragged her on the ground all the while they searched for Sakuno.

Mia, noticing her stare, cleared her throat awkwardly. "Sh-she…dragged me along…" she pointed timidly at Tomo, concluding Sakuno's thoughts.

Sakuno gave a small sigh then laughed. "It's always like Tomo-chan to go overboard like this." She smiled sweetly and helped Mia up. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up, then we can go on our way."

"Hai" Mia gave an equally charming smile and dusted her skirt.

"Ah FINALLY!!" shouted Tomoka. "I was wondering when you guys would get up, come on then!!" she linked arms with Sakuno on one side and Mia on the other. "Oh…by the way, sorry about a while ago…Mia." She laughed nervously.

"It's fine, don't worry! I'm used to being dragged like this in my previous school!" Mia waved her two hands in front of her. Somehow, she didn't seem bothered by the lack of honorific, probably because they didn't use honorifics from where she came from.

"Let's go then!!" the three of them cheered as they skipped to the end of the corridor.

'_People here are really nice…I haven't met a scary person yet, and I doubt I ever will in my stay here!'_ Mia smiled to herself.

* * *

**Okay that's it for now! **

**I'm sorry if the mush didn't work out right…I suck at putting mush and fluff, that's why my older cousin's forcing me to read all these icky stories…and I can't take them anymore!! Dx So…sorry if it's a bit cheesy, I'm really new at this! :P **

**Hmm…no scary people in Seishun, huh? Wait until she meets Kaidoh or the sadistic side of Fuji…it makes me wonder why I didn't make her scared of Tezuka…**

**And if you're interested in Ryosaku thingies, read kataiookami's 'Surprise Ryoma!' and 'Seishun Gakuen's Shakespeare Festival' Thanks for reviewing and reading!!**

**katai: How dare you advertise my fanfic?! Didn't I tell you never to do that?!**

**kuripsu: &runs&**

**katai: &sigh& if you want kuripsu to come back all you have to do is review...they inspire her a lot...Let's just hope her bad luck won't kill her...**

**Ja!**

**Dec 24, 08- I fused the 2 parts together today to avoid confusion!! =)) &wipes tear away from eye&**


	9. To The Airport!

**Hey!! Sorry for making you guys wait!! Here!! Presenting...CHAPTER 9!! xDD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT. And for this chapter, I don't own Pokemon either.**

* * *

Chapter 9: To The Airport!!

Mia breathed a long sigh when she entered her apartment and closed the door behind her. "Today was a pretty long day…" she kicked her shoes off and slumped down to the floor with her head resting on the door behind her. "At least I made myself some friends!" She smiled as she recalled her tour with Tomoka and Sakuno, and the group of boys and girls who crowded around her table during break time. "But I wonder why I feel like I'm forgetting something…?" she mused as she tapped her cheek repeatedly with her finger. "Hmm…"

"Ah! Hey sis, you're home!" Kyle's head poked out from one of the doorways, "It's still sooo early…it's like…3pm!! Mr. Snufflie was worried!" he exclaimed, holding out an Snover stuffed toy. **(A/N: Yes, I know it's Snover from Pokemon. I just find those things so adorable!) **

"Hey Ducky!" Mia went over to her brother and tousled his hair, "Hello Mr. Snufflie" she kissed the plushie's nose. **(A/N: Err…I mean…the fluffy part where its mouth is supposed to be.) **

"Wah!! My name's not Ducky you meanie!" he pouted and started punching her arm playfully.

"Alright…alright…" she laughed and gently pushed his hand away. "Where's mom?"

"Oh. She went to the nearby store to get some supplies for you know, when Kai comes!" he replied cheerfully.

"Ah! Kai!! I totally forgot about him!! Oh no!!" she rushed back towards the door and hurriedly put her shoes back on. "See ya later Ducky!!"

"Hey!! You're forgetting something!!"

"Huh?" Mia turned around to see two beady yellow eyes looking at her. "Oh!! Mr. Snufflie!! I'm sorry!!" she took the stuffed toy and gave it a little squeeze, and then gave it back to Kyle. "Bye then!!" she ran out of the door in a rush and slammed it behind her. Kyle heard her faint cry of "Sorry!" before the door closed completely. Now he was left all alone in the apartment.

"Wow…older sister forgets things so easily now…she's growing old so fast! Isn't that right Mr. Snufflie? I hope I don't become like that too…" Kyle told his Snover and hugged it tightly. "Now let's go back to the room and watch some TV!" he cheered and ran back to his room.

"Waah…" Mia cried out loud as she ran out into the main sidewalk. "How could I forget something like this!? He's going to kill me for th—!!" The second she said that, she bumped into something firm.

"Nani—!?" a deep male voice reacted.

"G-gomen!!" she bowed and looked up, "Ah! Tezuka-san! I'm really sorry about that!! I was in a hurry and—"

'_Beep. Beep.'_

Tezuka raised an eyebrow as Mia looked down at her wristwatch to see that her watch had been beeping.

'_4:30 pm-Airport!!' _

"Huh? Ah!!" she panicked, "I'm late!! Sorry about this Tezuka-san!! Goodbye!!" she gave a small wave and ran past him at full speed.

'_Late…?'_ he wondered, standing still and staring at where she'd just been, _'What a strange girl.' _

"Hn." He closed his eyes and was about to give a small sigh when he suddenly noticed something. "She was wearing the school uniform…that means it was her first day today…" he muttered to himself, "I wonder how it went…? …Huh?" he wondered, surprised at his own question. "Never mind." He shook his head and went on his way.

* * *

"Ah!! He's going to kill me when I get there!! I can imagine it now!! The minute I enter the airport he's going to spot me and come over and call me "Moron." And then he'll bop me on the head!!" she cried "He'll probably use his cello, or a baseball bat, or who knows what he keeps in that bag of his…I'm not going to…" Mia's voice trailed off as she slowly came to a halt. She looked around and saw that the buildings looked oddly familiar. It took her a few seconds to finally realize that she was back on the main sidewalk. She gave a loud cry of frustration. "Ah!! Why am I so dumb!? I ran out of the house to fetch that guy from the airport and look!! I don't even know where the airport is!! I'm so dumb…!" She scolded herself as she repeatedly banged her head against a nearby tree. "Waaa…you dummy…"

"You're going to get a concussion if you keep doing that you know." came an all-too-familiar voice a matter-of-factly.

She immediately stopped this, but didn't turn around to look at him. "Tezuka-san…I have to get to the airport now or else…" she turned around but her head was bowed down in shame. "I got lost again…I mean…I don't even know where it is…" she whined.

"You'll have to take the bus to get there." He replied in the same indifferent tone, "It'll take too long to get there on foot. You should know that. It's common sense."

"…The bus…" she muttered then sighed in frustration again. "Mia…you dummy…" she moaned as she buried her face in her bag in embarrassment. "I…no…" she cleared her throat and straightened up. "Th-thanks for the advice Tezuka-san!" she smiled and waved, "I'm really sorry for bothering you! I'll be going to the bus stop now!!" she giggled nervously and headed to where she thought the bus station was.

"…Hey."

"Hm?"

"The bus station is that way." Tezuka pointed to the opposite direction.

Mia paused for a moment. "Oh…alright…thanks…" she said softly and started walking towards the direction he pointed to while her hands clutched her bag tightly to her chest. As she passed by him, he caught a few muffled words of "Dum-dum" and "Idiot" and snickered inside.

"Hey."

"What now?"

"You're not an idiot. You just have no sense of direction." He said casually and followed after her.

"Uh…thanks…?"

"Hn." He gave a small smirk. **(Mia didn't notice this though :P)**

* * *

Bus Stop

Mia sat down on the bench as she waited for the bus to come. Tezuka sat down beside her, his eyes watching the road ahead.

'_I appreciate that he's waiting here with me…but why again…?'_ she thought as her eyes slowly traveled up from his pale hand to his well-built arm_. _She couldn't help it, she was bored after all._ 'It looks strong…what sport does he play?_' Her eyes traveled up to his shoulder and stopped at his face_. 'I only noticed now…but his face…it reminds me of one of those guys in TV…the ones with fangirls running after them all the time.' _ She smiled, still not taking her eyes off his face_. 'But it's funny, he doesn't look like the type to like someone…he looks too serious…' _she didn't notice that her face was already had a faint blush on it.

"Hn. Do you need anything?" he asked cautiously when he noticed her staring at him with big curious eyes.

"Ah! No! It's nothing!" she stuttered and looked away. She could feel him still staring at her, this made her feel more nervous, so she moved farther away from him and bowed her head. "S-so sorry…" she mumbled and buried her face in her bag.

'…_How cute.'_ He couldn't help but think when he watched her actions. _'She's very pretty…but very strange though.'_ He cleared his throat and turned his head the other way.

"Hey! It's 4pm!! The bus is coming!" he heard her exclaim cheerfully and could feel her tugging lightly on his sleeve. He tried his best to control the smile that itched to break out on his lips. "Yes, I know." He replied as casually as he could. He turned around to look at her, but saw that she was already getting on the bus. '_Whoa…she's so excited…she really wants to see that friend of her doesn't she?'_

* * *

'_That guy sure is helpful!!' _Mia thought the minute she stepped into the bus. She looked around and frowned. The bus was a little bit crowded and there were even a few people standing up already. She walked down the bus aisle and looked around for an empty seat …'Ah! There!' she found one in the back and was about to sit on it until…out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tired looking woman carrying a sleeping baby also looking for a place to sit.

"Ah…excuse me miss…" Mia said softly when the woman was close to her as not to awaken the baby.

"Yes?"

"You can have this seat if you want…!" she smiled and gestured to the empty seat.

The woman looked stunned for a moment and then breathed a long sigh of relief, then she smiled at Mia. "Thank you so much!!" she sat down and closed her eyes. "But are you sure it's okay with you?"

"Yes it's okay! It must be very tiring carrying that baby all around the place…so you have to take a rest! And anyway, my stop's near!" she added to reassure the woman that it was alright. In turn, the woman gave another relieved sigh and closed her eyes to take a nap. "…At least I think it is…" she whispered to herself and clutched the handlebars tightly.

"It _is _pretty near." A soft but deep voice came from behind her.

She turned her head slightly and wasn't so surprised to see that Tezuka had followed her into the vehicle and stood right beside her. It had already been a week since her arrival in Japan and in four of those days; he'd been there to help her. _'Kind of creepy though…but I'm glad he's there to help!!' _she though and gave a small,embarrassed smile as a reply. Tezuka closed his eyes and looked away in turn. '_Hmm…helpful, but really cold though…' _she sighed and looked at the sleeping mother and child on the seat next to where she was standing. '_They look so peaceful now…Hm? The mother looks pretty young…maybe they just started a family…' _she wondered, _'Well…I only wish them the best of luck then!!' _she giggled softly and continued to gaze at them, lost in thought_, _giving her a warm and peaceful look.

This was noticed by Tezuka and for some strange reason, he felt a strange fluttering sensation in his chest. _'Wh-what's this…? A cough…? Maybe I could force this out…' _ he closed his eyes and started to try and clear his throat.

"H-hey, are you okay?" Mia asked him in her soft voice. Somehow, it sounded more melodious and sweeter to his ears than before. She bent down and looked up at him with big curious eyes,this was the only way she could look at him anyway, in his position.

'_!!'_

He looked away, almost reluctantly. "Sorry Ishida-san. I'm fine."

"Hmm…maybe you shouldn't come along…it's best if you stay home and rest…after all, you've already helped me enough"

"…"

He glanced at her, feeling strangely protective again. "It's alright. I'm fine." He explained, "Besides, we're close to the airport, and knowing you, you might get lost again." He added coolly. Suddenly, he realized what he'd just done. '_Shoot! I didn't mean to say that!! I just sort of blurted it out like that!! Did I offend her??' _he wondered what her next reaction would be. But there was no negative reaction. She seemed to happily accept her weak points, and she smiled at him.

"Fine If you say so, thanks for accompanying me then!"

"Hn." He replied gruffly. There was that strange fluttering sensation in his chest again. It was starting to annoy him.

After a few moments, the bus stopped in a more crowded area, the city. In the situation that happened, the two didn't notice that they were already near their destination.

"Is this it, Tezuka-san?" She asked him when she saw that he was no longer deep in thought.

"Yes it is. Come on, let's go." With that, he made his way towards the front of the bus. Mia started to go after him when suddenly, she felt a tight sensation around her wrist. She looked back to see that the woman was holding her wrist and smiling in a strange way.

"Y-yes Ma'am?" Mia asked her nervously.

"I just want to say thank you again. That was the first act of kindness shown to me in a really long time…"

"Oh…" Mia gave a tiny giggle.

"Anyway…you have a nice-looking young man over there accompanying you. Is he your boyfriend?"

"A-ah!! N-no!! I-I-It's not th-that!!" Mia blushed furiously and waved her arms in front of her in embarrassment and harassment, "Th-that's wrong!!" she blurted out.

"Mhmm…but by your reaction…you seem to like him…don't you??"

"A-ah…M-miss…!"

"Ishida-san."

"Ah!! Tezuka-san!!" she cried out, panicked. She was really flustered by what the woman said.

"Let's go."

"Y-yeah!!" she nodded in a fury and ran out of the bus, leaving him behind.

"…Sorry Ma'am, but we really need to be going." He told the woman quietly.

"Oh! Alright! The bus isn't the best place to have a chat anyway!! Please tell that girl that I'm terribly sorry for embarrassing her like that! Take care!!" with that, the woman gave Tezuka a little shove forward making him stagger a bit. "Goodbye!" she laughed, and he exited the bus.

'_So strange…' _he exclaimed in his mind. _'I swear I could see her smiling naughtily when she was talking to Ishida…wait…she said something about embarrassing her…?' _ The door closed, and the vehicle rode off into the red afternoon sun.

"Ah…um…" Mia's voice, now so small was barely heard by Tezuka. If she hadn't started tugging on his sleeve, he would've probably forgotten that she was even there. He turned around and smiled inside. She looked so helpless and lost.

"Okay. Follow me." He said softly and led the way. Mia hesitantly followed after him. Now and then he would look behind him to check if she was still there. Each time he did this, he noticed that she looked sort of gloomy and lost in thought. '_That's definitely not like her.' _ He thought.

'_What that lady said…D-did I really sound like that?? Oh my!! I mean…I don't feel anything for this guy…well…he's a friend…but…is that really…_?? _I mean…what she said!!…Ah!! It's so confusing!! I don't like it one bit!!' _ Mia closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. '_I mean…come on!! We've only just met!! My older cousins told me that it takes like…a long time to develop!! And anyway…it's sort of gross…the way I look at it…!' _

After a few moments of this awkward silence, she broke out in a cry, "I hate it!!"

"Hn?" Tezuka stopped walking and looked at her curiously, "Hate what? Is there anything wrong?" he asked.

"A-ah no…It's nothing!!"

"By the way, a little while ago, I saw that you and the woman were talking about something…she also told me to apologize to you for what she's done." He paused, "What did she do anyway?"

"A-ah!! N-nothing really…"

Tezuka raised his eyebrow in suspicion. He gave her a withering look. "You're a pretty bad liar you know."

Mia gave a small sigh of frustration and closed her eyes, "Ah Tezuka-san, where is the airport anyway?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Don't change the subject."

"Like I said! It's nothing!"

Now it was his turn to sigh in exasperation, only he didn't make it obvious. _'Maybe some other time, it's better if I don't force the answer out of her…' _"Let's go then." The two of them continued walking again.

After a while, Mia broke the silence again by saying something. "F-fine…Th-the woman in the bus asked me a question..." she stammered as she twiddled her fingers nervously.

"…Question?"

"Y-yeah."

"Anything that I should be concerned about?"

"Ah…no…hey!! It's the airport!!" her tone changed completely as she was back to her normal self. She was pointing to a large dome shaped structure in front of them.

Tezuka nodded in reply. Because of their conversation, he didn't notice that the were already in the middle of a crowded sidewalk. "Didn't you say you were late?"

"Oh yeah!! I nearly forgot!!" she laughed and got hold of his wrist, "Come on then!! Let's go!!" she cheered and led him towards the airport.

"Hey…!"

"Sorry!!"

* * *

**Yeah!! Haha!! It's sooo long!! Sorry about that!!**

**Thanks so much to Ate Inna for helping me with this story!! If not for her, I might have discontinued this fanfic...funny eh?**T

**Anyways...bye then!! See you in chapter 10!!**

* * *


	10. Introducing Kai

**Hey!! I'm here with the 10****th**** chapter!! ****Yay!! **

**That was a pretty fast update right? Since you all know me, the late updater!! Haha!! But not anymore!! I'm finally motivated to write the fanfic again!! Those who reviewed/ alerted/ added this story or me to their favorites...**

**…THANKS SO MUCH!! You guys really inspired me to write some more!!****  
****...****Now enough with all the fuzziness!! I bring you chapter 10!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own POT or any of its characters. I do own my OC's though. Well duh :P**

* * *

Chapter 10: Introducing Kai

FLASHBACK

"Once…there was a girl…" Came a low eerie voice of an 8-year-old boy, "Her parents were killed in a mysterious fire when she was only 2 years old, so she was forced to live with her grandma who was as strict as a surgeon. One day, the little girl asked her grandma if she could go and play in the attic but the grandma said no." The boy paused and adjusted the blanket on top of his head, and turned the small nightlight in front of him lower so it cast strange shadows on the pillows that surrounded the two children. The little girl in front of him squealed and went closer to him.

"Please don't do that…!" she cried and clinged on to the shoulder of the boy, "H-how come she didn't want the girl to go up the attic?" She asked timidly when she calmed down a little.

"Oh. You'll find out soon." He replied nonchalantly, "Anyway, even though the girl was told no, her heart was bent on seeing exactly what was in the old attic that was right directly above her bedroom. So one night, after her grandma had gone to bed, the little girl slowly crept up the old wooden stairs leading to the attic. _Creak…creak…creak…_" with each _'creak'_, the little boy turned the light lower one level until it was as dark as…night. Small tears started to form in the little girl's eyes as her grip on him tightened.

"Kai…" she whined.

"Finally, she reached the top of the stairs…it was darker and colder than the rest of the house, but she didn't really mind. She spotted a light switch right beside the door of the attic and she flicked it on, but to her surprise, it didn't work. A cold autumn breeze blew from some opening in the attic, yet she took a small step forward and shone her flashlight around hoping to find some kind of toy, or better yet, a doll…" his voice faded away slowly.

"Wh-what happened Kai? What happened to the girl? What did she see?" Mia called out to him in the darkness, but she could no longer feel his presence. "K-Kai…?" she whispered.

"Her heart leapt out of her body and her eyes opened wide with fear and confusion when the light shone on the floor in front of her, there laying on the floor in front of her was her grandmother's body covered in dry blood!!" His voice rang out from somewhere, "Her grandma had been dead for many years and it had been a ghost taking care of her for all those years the entire time!!" with that, he threw open the covers. Mia looked behind her, surprised and saw a creature with huge piercing red eyes in front of her face.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!!" she squealed and hid under the covers. The lights flicked on and she heard Kai's mischievous laughter ringing out from behind her.

"AHAHAHAHAAHAHA!! MIA YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE!!" Kai laughed out loud and removed the mask from his face. "YOU IDIOT!! THAT STORY'S NOT TRUE!!" he collapsed on the bed with laughter.

"Kai…you meanie!!" Mia ran over to him and hugged him tightly, tears were running from her eyes. "That was so scary…!" she cried.

"Hahaha…it's your fault for believing in that story." He said as his laughter died down, "And anyway, I was only joking." He snickered.

"Kai…"

"Fine…I'm sorry for scaring you, it's just that it's so funny seeing your idiotic face when you get scared…" he smirked as he threw a towel at her face. "Here, wipe your face, it's full of tears and snot."

She took the towel and started wiping her face quickly, "Kai…please keep that mask…" she moaned.

He grinned and put the mask back in his bag.

"Is it gone?"

"Yeah, yeah…" he said and sat down on the bed beside her.

"Please don't let the monsters get me…" she whispered and buried her face in the towel even more.

"Idiot, of course I won't. You're my friend, I won't let anything hurt you." He grinned and messed up her hair. "Besides, if anything happened to you, I wouldn't have any more idiot to tease and scare." He laughed.

She looked up at him, although her face was still a bit pink. "Is that all I am to you?"

"N-no…!!" he frowned and knocked her down on the bed.

"…Thanks then Kai…" she closed her eyes and gave him a small smile,

Kai's face got warm all of a sudden. "There you go again, putting that idiotic face on again." He picked up a pillow and smothered her face, then he laughed.

"Kai!!" she laughed too and whacked him on the head with another pillow in turn.

"Hey!!"

END OF FLASHBACK (What a long flashback… :P)

* * *

Back to the present...

The two of them burst into the airport doors and into the crowded terminal. Mia took a look at the large clock to her left and smiled brightly, it was only 4:40. "Yay!! We made it!! We're not late!!" she exclaimed happily and twirled around, forgetting that she was still holding on to Tezuka's wrist. "Yay!! Yay!! Yay!!" she giggled.

A few passersby stopped to look at them and most of the older ones sighed wistfully, "Ah…the youth…" they laughed as they watched the two, rather one dancing with happiness. "How cute!"

"Hey older sister!! Look at that couple over there!! They're so happy!!" exclaimed one little girl, "They kind of remind me of you and--"

"Okay!! That's enough Chelsea!!" called the older girl, "Now let's go, mom's waiting for us outside!!" she said and hurriedly pushed the girl away.

"Aww…but…"

"Let's get you some ice cream!!"

"Yay!! Can mine be chocolate?"

'_Huh? Couple!?' _Tezuka wondered, "Hey. Ishida san…?" he mumbled as he tried to loosen her grip on his wrist.

"What is it?" she laughed.

"I know this is fun for you and all…but shouldn't we be looking for your friend right now?"

She stopped twirling and turned to look at him, although she was still smiling brightly and didn't seem to be quite all there yet. "Oh?"

'_Even though that smile sort of refreshes me, she's clearly too excited over the act that she 'made it in time' to think of the real purpose she came to the airport…I'd better remind her…' _he sighed and closed his eyes, "Besides, there are people staring." He told her calmly.

"H-huh?" That seemed to do the trick, she awoke from her 'happy stance' and looked around her.

'_Finally!' _thought Tezuka.

"O-oh…" she immediately let go of his wrist and looked down at the floor to hide the blush on her cheeks but failed miserably. "S-sorry Tezuka-san…" she mumbled and went on ahead.

"…" He gave a small sigh and followed after her. '_Although I have to admit that it was sort of fun…' _he smiled inside.

"Heh. I thought I heard that idiotic voice somewhere before." An arrogant male voice came from in front of him.

* * *

Tezuka's POV

I looked up to see where that voice came from to see a dark-haired boy about the same age and height as me. He had sleek black hair and piercing, misty-blue eyes that had a strange mischievous glint to them. His skin was pale; it was almost as white as mine. But what struck me the most wasn't his complexion or his look that would probably make fangirls squeal and swoon for him. It was that cocky and arrogant smirk plastered on his face. It took me a split second to see that that smirk and the icy-blue eyes were focused on me.

'_This person…'_

"Kai!!" I heard Ishida exclaim from beside me and his attention quickly turned from mine to hers as she ran over to him and gave him a hug. "You're here!!" she laughed.

Somehow, seeing this made me feel strange inside. It seemed to annoy me…a lot.

"Hey!! Let go of me!!" he exclaimed and pushed her away. This made me feel a bit relieved, but nevertheless, I was still irritated at seeing this person. I wonder why? "You're still as late as ever…" he said in an annoyed tone when he was finally able to break free from her.

"What do you mean late?" she protested.

Yeah…what do you mean late?

In turn, he bopped her head lightly with a small black book. "Anyway…here. One of your equally idiotic friends told me to give this to you. You dropped it on your way to the airport."

"Owie...Kai…you're the same as always…" she whined as she rubbed her head. He smirked then placed the book on her hand uncaringly and turned his head to look at me.

"My, my…who do we have here?" he asked himself as he took a step towards me.

…This person sure is bothersome…

"So…who's this dude?" he cocked his head to where Ishida was standing, but his eyes were still locked on mine. As usual, I still had my poker face on, and I was glad I had it. I didn't really know if I'd know how to react to the way he was acting.

"Oh…that's…" she began and took a step forward towards me.

"Tezuka Kunimitsu." I said rather indifferently, holding out my hand. I'd better be polite anyway.

It took him a while to answer, but when he did; he closed his eyes, smirked and took my hand. "Takahata Kai." He said with that strange glint in his eye. With the way he was looking at me, and from the way Ishida was looking witheringly at us, somehow, I knew this was going to spell trouble…

* * *

**Alright!! That's it for now!! Sorry for any grammar errors...I posted this right after I wrote it down. :P**

**It's a pretty short chapter compared to the previous one!! But I hope you liked it! About the scary story...thanks so much kataiookami for helping me look for it!! And dear reader, thanks for reading!! Don't forget to review!! It inspires me A LOT. **

**Oh and by the way…is the story getting any interesting? I don't know…maybe I should discontinue…or maybe not…I'm having just too much fun writing this to stop!! xD**

**Ja'ne!!**


	11. Of Apologies And Pinky Swears

**Hey!! Kuripsu here bringing you chapter 11!!**

**Okay guys first of all, I'm sorry I updated late. It's because I had exams and a few moments of writers block. I had to ask a few of my friends for suggestions for the story...If you want, you can suggest stuff as well!! Sorry for any grammar errors and stuff!!**

**Okay!! Now...on to the story!!**

**Disclaimer: PoT is not mine. I do own Ducky though. xD**

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Chapter 11: Of Apologies and Pinky Swears

Previously…

"_Takahata Kai." He said with that strange glint in his eye. With the way he was looking at me, and from the way Ishida was looking witheringly at us, somehow, I knew this was going to spell trouble…_

* * *

"Ah…Kai…This is heavy!!" Mia complained as she dragged a large navy blue bag down the long flight of steps outside the airport. "What exactly did you put in here anyway?" she asked him as she stopped for a few seconds to rest.

Tezuka stood silently behind her, also carrying one of Kai's bags. _'She looks as if she really needs help.' _He thought. "Ishida-san, I can carry that for you." He told her and was about to take hold of the strap of the bag when Mia stopped him.

"N-no…It's okay!! I-I'm fine!! Really!" she protested but he took hold of the strap anyway.

'_Gentlemen shouldn't let ladies carry heavy things like this…' _he thought rather heatedly as he looked towards Kai who was already at the bottom of the stairs, looking straight at them with large, uninterested eyes as he called for a cab.

"Ah…um…Th-thanks…" she mumbled softly, "…But are you sure…? I-I mean…I want to help!!" she said, a little bit louder than expected.

"…" he removed the strap of the smaller and lighter bag from his shoulder and handed it to Mia. "Here. Just be careful you don't slip." He added softly, not meaning to say it. But for some strange reason, the words seemed to slip out of his mouth.

"Okay!" she smiled shyly and held the bag he gave her close to her chest unconsciously.

From the bottom of the steps, two misty-blue eyes watched their every movement with mild amusement. _'Hmm…Now what could be going on between those two?'_ he wondered as he waited for the two of them to reach the bottom of the steps. When they did, Kai gave a loud sigh and looked at the both of them rather impatiently. "You guys are so slow." He told them in a tone that was either annoyed or mocking them. "The cab's already here, see?" he nodded towards the right with his head, and sure enough there was a cab parked beside the sidewalk, waiting for them.

'_Hn. I guess this guy just has nothing better to do with his life.'_ Tezuka thought to himself.

"Can you guys take any longer?" Kai said impatiently. "The cab's going to leave if you guys don't hurry up."

"Ah, okay we're coming!" Mia exclaimed. "Come on, we'd better hurry."

"Hn." Tezuka said as he made his way down the stairs behind Mia.

"Took you long enough." Kai said mockingly as he faced them.

* * *

After they had loaded the bags into the trunk of the cab with the help of the driver, the three of them settled down at the back seat of the cab since the driver didn't want them to sit in the front for some strange reason. Mia sat in between the two guys, who she noticed rarely looked at each other's face. It was as if they were avoiding each other.

'_It's only now that I've noticed how tall both of them actually are…it's sort of strange though…they're not really taking to each other…I mean, I know Eyeglass-san isn't really the type of person to talk but…something feels really strange.' _she thought as she bowed her head, _'I really hate uncomfortable silences!!' _

The car moved out of the airport gates and into the open road. _'Gosh, I wonder what time it is.' _She wondered as she looked at the window in front of her. The sky was a red-orange hue and there were a few traces of pink marking clouds. '_Well…I guess it's around 4 or 5:30…' _She glanced at her left to see Kai staring boredly out of the window. His deep grayish-blue eyes seemed to be thinking deeply into a secret story as they stared off into distant space. _'Gosh... Something's been bugging him ever since he got here…I mean…what's up…? He seems pretty troubled…' _Just then, Kai turned his head slightly to look at her. _'Huh?'_ He scowled at her; or rather stuck his tongue out at her then went back to staring out at the passing scenery outside the window. _'…No. I guess he's fine…but something seems troubling. What is it?'_

Tezuka turned his head to slightly to see Mia's troubled expression.

"Is there anything wrong Ishida-san?" he asked her quietly.

It took her quite a while to respond. After a few seconds, she awoke from her thinking state and looked at him with a startled and puzzled expression on her face. He looked at her, awaiting an answer. She was definitely deep in thought.

"H-Huh?"

Kai turned his head to see what was going on, his head still resting on the palm of his head.

"Oh…! I'm f-fine!! D-don't w-worry!!" she stuttered and laughed nervously.

'_Heh. This is sort of fun to watch. Let's see what happens…' _Kai thought as he watched the scene. Nothing really unusual happened and he sighed quietly when suddenly, a thought came up in his head. "Oh. Hey, it was your first day in that school today right?"

"Y-yeah…" she replied quietly. _'Hey. At least he's talking.'_

"How'd it go anyway?"

'…_Hn. I wonder how it went...' _Tezuka turned to the window yet still listened to their conversation.

He knew it was sort of wrong, but they were in a small space and almost every sound is heard unless it is a quiet whisper. Besides, he was sort of curious.

"Ah…" She glanced at both of them and looked down again. "Um…well…" her cheeks turned a faint pink color as she twiddled her fingers shyly. "Everyone was really nice and friendly…" She bowed her head but the two boys could see that she was smiling bashfully. "There were these two girls who were--I mean…well…one of them, in high pigtails was really loud and she was dragging me around all day while talking about some regulars…and then there was another girl with her with long, dark braided hair that would follow us around and smile at us and tell me about the school…" She smiled as she told the two about her long day with Tomoka and Sakuno.

'_Hn. I have a feeling I know who those two are…it's pretty funny though…about what happened to her with Ryuzaki-san and Osakada-san.'_

She giggled as her cheeks turned an even darker pink. "Today was pretty fun!"

'_That's good then. At least nothing bad happened to her today…and judging by her story about the two girls, I have a feeling that I'm going to see her a lot more times in the next few days…' _Tezuka thought, feeling strangely happy.

He looked out the window again, watching the sun set behind the trees that the car passed by, feeling peaceful. The cab was quiet, all except for the gentle hum of the aircon. Minutes later, the sun had fully set and the sky was a deep purple color. Tezuka watched the first stars appear as the cab slowed down to a halt. _'Hm…? Traffic…' _he concluded when suddenly, he felt a sudden weight on his upper arm. He turned his head slightly to see Mia's head resting on his arm, sleeping soundly.

'_Ishida-san…?' _he thought as he tried to move her head away but Kai stopped him.

"She's pretty tired you can see." He said.

"Hn." Tezuka closed his eyes and looked away. Even though this was a bit uncomfortable, somehow he felt strangely content. There went that strange fluttery feeling in his chest again.

"You don't want her to wake up," Kai told him, "Let's leave her be 'til we get to the apartment."

"Fine." He replied as he leaned back against his seat, closing his eyes as well. He heard Kai mutter, "That idiot..." and smiled to himself.

* * *

The Apartment!!

_Ding Dong! _**(A/N: Gosh guys, I'm so sorry. I couldn't think of any other sound effect for a doorbell. xD)**

"Ducky!! Can you get the door please? I'm kind of busy!!" called out a female voice from inside.

"Alright Mommy! Just don't call me Ducky!!" a little boy's voice came nearer as a pitter-patter of small footsteps was heard near the door. Kyle heard familiar voices as he neared the door.

"I can't believe I fell asleep…" he heard her sister whine quietly.

"I can. I mean, you do that all the time." A familiar voice replied.

"I'm really sorry Tezuka-san…"

'_I know that voice…' _thought Kyle as he proceeded to open the door with his free hand, for his other hand was carrying Mr. Snufflie, as usual. He opened the door to see his sister, and two tall boys beside her. "KAI!!"

"Kyle, long time no see!" Kai exclaimed as he faced Ducky who was standing in front of the door with a huge smile on his face.

"Yay!! You called me Kyle!! See older sister? He calls me by my real name, while you don't!!" Ducky exclaimed happily as he took hold of Kai's hand with his small one. "Now let's go!! I want to play!!" he laughed and then looked up at Tezuka. "Oh!! Hello Eyeglass-san!! Do you want to play with us too?" he asked innocently.

'_Why is everyone calling me that?' _Tezuka thought and looked down at Kyle. He was a little boy of about seven or eight years old. He had dark-brown hair like his sister and his skin was the same as Mia's. It was only a slightly darker shade than his. His eyes were a deep amber color with a bright twinkle of curiosity seen only by those who would have enough time to look. "Ah. Maybe another time." He said, trying to sound as friendly as possible, although it didn't seem to have any effect.

Kyle studied him over with large, twinkly eyes. Then he closed his eyes and smiled. "Alright then, Megane-nii-chan, maybe another time then!!" He opened his eyes again and looked at him seriously. "But you'll have to pinky swear!!" he exclaimed and held his pinky out.

"Pinky swear…?" Tezuka looked at the child holding his pinky out to him. He saw the determined look on Kyle's face and the serious look on his face. It was sort of cute and it sort of reminded him of Mia. "Okay…" he bent down reluctantly and held out his pinky. Kyle immediately hooked his finger around Tezuka's.

"With my pinky finger, I make a pinky swear!! It's more than just a promise; it's deeper than a dare!!" Kyle chanted and took his finger away from Tezuka. "Now it's done. You have to play with me another day or else you'll have to cut your pinky off." He told him solemnly.

'_This kid is cute…but really strange…' _he nodded and straightened up.

"Now let's go and play Kai!! See you Megane-nii-chan!!" and with that, Kai was dragged into the apartment by little Kyle.

"Um…sorry about that Tezuka-san…and about Kai's attitude…" Mia apologized, "…And about falling asleep…" she added sheepishly. Then she noticed that he was still carrying the bags, but somehow he still didn't look tired or anything. "Oh!! I'm really sorry to make you carry those bags for him!!" she exclaimed. "You could just put those here and I'll bring them inside later." She smiled reassuringly.

"…Fine…" he replied and placed the bags where he was told to put it. Somehow, he felt that she was going to need help again, but this time kept his mouth shut.

"Thanks a lot!! You've been really helpful these past few days!!" she exclaimed happily.

"It's alright." Tezuka replied, his cheeks feeling warmer than usual again. The fluttering feeling was there again but this time, it was much stronger. _'Calm down, calm down…' _he told himself.

"Would you like to come in?" she offered, opening the door a bit wider for both of them.

"Ah, no, I'm fine." He said, "Hn. Well, I'd better be going now. It's late." He said as he started to make his way home. "Ja."

"Bye and thanks again!!" she waved back. Suddenly a thought came up in her mind. "Ah! Tezuka-san!" she cried out. She saw him turn to look at her and continued what she was going to say. "We're going to have a mini-party for Kai tomorrow! Hope you can come!"

'_Mini-party?' _thought Tezuka as he just waved one hand on approval. He continued to make his way home, contemplating on whether he should attend or not.

When he stepped out onto the open street, he stopped and closed his eyes. A soft wind blew past him and he felt more relaxed than usual. As he relaxed, a haunting melody was carried off to his ears with the help of the breeze. It was a curious sound that was composed of a few repeating notes as well as a few cascading notes. The melody seemed to remind him of something that he'd forgotten a long time ago, and he wanted to find out what it was he was forgetting. He looked around to see where the tune was coming from but couldn't see anyone in sight except for a couple walking past him. Finally, he looked back to the direction of Mia's apartment and saw who was playing that eerie tune. Kai was looking at him with his blue eyes as he played the tune on his long silver flute.

* * *

**Okayness!! That's it for now!! **

**Keep tuning in for the next chapter, I'll do my best to make it!! Honest!! I'll pinky swear with you guys if you want!! **

**Thanks for all those who reviewed, added me to their favorites, or those who didn't do either of those but took the time to read!! If you guys have any suggestions and stuff to say, just review or send it to me through email!! (You'll find my address in my profile :P)**

**Alright!! See ya!!**

* * *


	12. Meeting the Regulars!

**Okay!! 12th chapter here!! **

**First of all, I know I pinky swore with you guys that I would update soon, but sadly I didn't. I'm soooo sorry. **

**I have this time limit thing in the PC, and I can't type like...as much as I want...And another reason why I updated late is because I'm making you guys a bonus chappie **

**2nd: I edited the previous chapter...just the last part...to show what instrument Kai plays :P**

**Excuse the wrong grammar and stuff... I was rushing to upload this for you guys :))**

**Yeah anyways. Enough with the chit-chat and enjoy the story!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own POT.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Meeting The Regulars!! 

A few weeks after Kai's arrival, Mia and Kai were able to adjust to living in Japan. Kai was admitted into second year and made instant friends with almost all his classmates the minute he stepped into the room, including Momo and Kaidoh. Mia was getting along with her classmates as well, especially with Sakuno and Tomoka. During morning break, this would be the time she got to know her own batchmates better. During the afternoon break or sometimes at the end of classes, Tomoka would drag Sakuno and Mia out of the classroom and show her the different areas of the school before she or any of her other classmates could react. On this particular day, Tomoka decided to go to the tennis courts. They passed by Ryoma in the hall, fully dressed and also going to go there, so he decided to tag along.

"Hey, why choose outside all of a sudden?" Mia asked Tomoka as the four of them walked down the steps leading to the back of the school.

"There are two reasons why Mia!! It's sunny and bright outside and…" she laughed and nudged Sakuno who was beside her, "Come on Sakuno!! You know the other reason why right?"

"Huh? What's the matter Tomoka?" asked Sakuno, startled and clueless as Mia. She glanced at Ryoma who was beside her. "Oh!!" she exclaimed and turned a shade of pink.

'_There you go again. Miss strawberry-faced klutz.'_ Ryoma couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched her twiddle her fingers bashfully. He pulled down his white Fila cap to hide his expression.

Tomoka sighed in a dreamy way and looked up at the sky as they made their way to the court. "The second reason is because I want to cheer my Ryoma-kun on as he practices!!"

"Eh?" Ryoma looked at her in a strange way and turned away. "Tch. So annoying." He mumbled and turned back to look at Sakuno. Luckily, Tomoka didn't hear what he said and continued chatting about her 'endless devotion' for her Ryoma, but Sakuno did. She looked at him through her large brown eyes.

"Ryoma-kun…you shouldn't say that." She scolded him softly, her face still a slight tinge of pink. "Be grateful that you have someone cheering you on in the thick and thin."

Ryoma looked at her deep in thought for a while and he knew she was right. He was lucky that someone was cheering for him during the good and the hard times, but he wasn't thinking of Tomoka. "Hn. Fine." He mumbled and looked away.

"—and even though everyone says he's cocky and arrogant, I'll still stick by side!!" Tomoka cried out with undying passion.

"Uh…okay…" Mia answered after a while. _'Osakada sure has strange taste…' _

'_Pok.'_

'_Pok,'_

"There!! That oh so familiar sound!! It's the music to my ears!!" Tomoka exclaimed happily about the sound the tennis balls made against the rackets.

"We're near then." smiled Sakuno, making Ryoma feel light again.

The three of them stepped out into a more open area. The breeze was cool and the sun shone brightly on the court below them. Mia shielded her eyes from the suns rays and looked down at the court. A group of boys wearing identical sports jackets were practicing around the area. A few of them were walling, others were stretching, and still others were running around the court doing laps. _'Eh…don't tell me Osakada brought me here to see all these guys…She really is boy-crazy then…'_ Mia remarked softly while she looked around. Suddenly, a boy whom she recognized as the 'meow-boy' looked up from his stretching and turned towards them.

"Nyaa!! Ochibi!! You're late by 5 minutes!!" he cried, "That means you have to do more laps!!"

"Ah, yeah." Ryoma replied, walking down the steps to the court, unfazed by Eiji's comment.

"Hehehe!! And I see Echizen has brought his girlfriend with him eh??" Momo laughed and waved to the three girls. He noticed that there was a new girl among them. She waved back sheepishly, unlike the two other girls who were already used to his antics. "Oh? Echizen? You have another member of your fanclub huh?"

"F-fanclub??" Mia stuttered as they approached the side of the court.

"Nyaa?" Eiji looked back to where Momo was looking and saw Mia too. "Hey!! I know you!!" he exclaimed as he bounced over to her. "You're the girl that got lost in school!" he smiled.

"Y-yeah…" Mia mumbled.

"I never got to introduce myself properly!" he laughed and hugged her like a teddy bear, "My name's Kikumaru Eiji! How do you do?" he laughed again and let go.

"Don't mind him. He's always like that." said the spiky-haired boy beside him. "I'm Momoshiro Takeshi! Call me Momo if you like!" Momo said stretching out his hand to her.

She took hold of his hand and shook it. "I'm Ishida Mia, nice to meet you!" she smiled.

"Come on! Come on! We have to introduce you to the others!! Let's go!!" said an excited Eiji as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards each of the stations.

"Hey!! Wait for me!!" cried Momo as he scrambled to keep up with Eiji.

Pretty soon, the other regulars came to her the minute they saw her step onto the court, being their hospitable selves and all.

"I'm Shuichiro Oishi. Nice to meet you." said a tall guy with a bowl cut.

"That's our mother!!" Momo explained to Mia. "He's always worrying for us and all, but it's pretty cool that we get a lot of support from him."

"Next! Next! Next!" exclaimed Eiji as he pulled Mia to the boys who were done stretching. "That's Inui Sadaharu!! Our data man!!" he cried pointing excitedly to the tallest boy with thick glasses.

"100 chance I haven't met you yet. Your name Ishida Mia, am I correct?"

She nodded in reply, a bit freaked out by his height.

"Ii. Data." He said pulling out a notebook and jotting down some notes on it.

Next, a boy with brown hair and a meek disposition came up to her and held out his hand. "I'm Kawamura Takashi. You can call me Taka, if you want…I mean…if that's okay with you." He said softly.

She smiled and shook hands with him.

"Don't be fooled with his shy disposition though!!" Eiji told her. "Once he holds a racket in his hand, he gets all crazy and…"

"BURNING!!" Taka cried. It seemed that Momo had given him a racket to demonstrate to Mia.

"See?" said Momo, yanking the racket out of his hand. All of a sudden, he turned shy again and looked around, clueless to what just happened. Mia smiled nervously and went to the next person.

"And here is Mamushi." Momo gestured to a bandana-clad boy who had his back turned to them.

"Hello!!" she said happily.

"Fsshhhh…" Suddenly, Kaidoh looked back at them with his cold glare, making Mia step back and hide behind Eiji and Momo.

"Look what you did to our new friend Mamushi!!" Momo shouted and glared at Kaidoh.

Kaidoh turned to him, startled that there was a small girl beside him. "Well it's your fault for not telling me before!!" he retorted.

"Nyaa…always like this…" Eiji sighed then looked at Mia like an older brother would a younger sibling. "Don't mind them Mia-chan! They'll stop sooner or later!!"

Once again she didn't mind the honorific, but she did mind the two boys screaming their heads off in front of her, squabbling like little kids.

"Well Mamushi!! If you weren't so ugly then—"

"Well porcupine head, I oughta—"

"Stop." Mia said as she cut her hand in between their faces and looked at both of them sternly.

"Wow Mia-chan…" Eiji commented out loud.

The others stopped what they were doing to see what was going on.

"Don't fight guys." She scolded them softly, like Sakuno to Ryoma, "There's not enough love in this world right now and there's too much fighting. You guys are acting immature, fighting over little things like this." She added, her soft voice relaxing each of them.

"Yeah guys!! Immature!!" Eiji agreed, he looked to the side and saw Inui jotting down more notes, then he smiled. It seemed that the regulars were already warming up to the new guest.

"I know you're my senpais and all, but I know it isn't worth it to fight over something as dumb as this is."

"And they're being told only…now."

"Quiet Echizen!" warned one of the regulars.

"Tch."

Kaidoh and Momo looked at each other, defeated. She really was right after all. At that moment, Tezuka stepped out from the office right beside the court.

"Yes Ryuzaki-sensei. I'll go and deliver it now." He said, closing the door behind him. He headed back towards the school; he had errands to do anyway. As he passed by the court, he thought he saw Mia surrounded by the regulars. It seemed like she was talking to Kaidoh and Momo, then the scene disappeared behind rows of trees. _'Ishida-san? I think my mind must be playing tricks on me.'_ He thought as he headed back to the school.

"So let's just get along okay?" Mia suggested, her face softening. The two looked at each other, each awaiting an apology.

"Well…" said Kaidoh, "Maybe we can stop…"

"Yeah…maybe just this once…"

"Sorry dude."

"Yeah. Me too."

Seeing that they were really sorry, Mia gave them her signature smile which blew through them like a soft breeze.

'_!!' _The two of them, caught unaware, blushed furiously.

"Yay!!" cheered Eiji, "Haha!! Some sense knocked into them! Finally!"

"Finally it's explained!" laughed Taka and Oishi.

"Haha! Way to go Ishida-san!" Oishi said giving her a pat on her shoulder.

"What…? I don't get it…" she stuttered, making her way back to Sakuno and Tomoka. "What did I do? I mean, all I did was talk to them…"

"No nyaa! You don't get it!" Eiji said jumping as he and Oishi accompanied her back to her seat.

"What Eiji means to say is that you were able to make those two keep quiet and even make them apologize to each other!!" Oishi explained, "Only a few people were able to do that."

"Oh…?"

"You really taught them Ishida-san!" Taka smiled. Mia took a look back at the two boys, still in a sort of half-dazed state. "Oh no!! Don't tell me I hurt them!?" she exclaimed when she sat down beside Sakuno and Tomoka.

"Haha! Don't worry, they're probably just shaken up that they were shown the truth by someone younger than them." laughed Tomoka.

"Sugoi…Amazing Ishida-chan…" murmured Sakuno.

"But they must hate me for telling them off!?" Mia replied, glancing up at the two boys.

"Nah. Doubt that. Don't worry, they're probably stunned by that smile you just gave them, Little Ribbon." Came a husky voice from behind her.

The three girls looked behind to see a light brown haired boy smiling at them through half-shut eyes.

"Oh. Hello Fuji-senpai!" greeted the two girls.

'_It's the guy from before!!' _Mia gasped recalling the embarrassing time Fuji pet her head like a puppy.

"I see you have a new friend." He smiled, taking notice of Mia.

"H-hello…" Mia said weakly.

"We've met before haven't we?"

"Y-yeah…"

"I haven't introduced myself properly yet." He said, holding out his hand. "I'm Fuji Syuusuke. Nice to meet you again." His smile grew wider when Mia took hold of his hand and shook it.

"I'm Ishida Mia…" she smiled meekly and let go.

"Hmm…Nice name. Ah, Little Ribbon is a cute name for you. May I call you that?" he asked, placing his hand on her head again.

"What are you guys doing??" A deep, loud voice came from the other side of the court, "Get back to work!" it commanded.

"Hai Buchou!!" each of the regulars replied as they started going back to the center of the court.

* * *

"Oishi. What happened?" Tezuka asked him when he reached the court.

"There was a little mishap with Momo and Kaidoh as usual. Good thing our new little friend stopped them in time." Oishi gestured towards the bench where the three girls were. Tezuka saw the usual two girls and beside them was Mia, who was talking to Fuji.

'_So Ishida-san was here then.' _He thought looking at her and his teammate talking together. Suddenly, he saw Fuji petting Mia's head like a little puppy again. _'Fuji…?'_

"What are you guys doing??" Tezuka shouted out loud all of a sudden. "Get back to work!" He felt strange again. Tense. He only relaxed when Fuji turned back towards the court.

"Ja. I'll take that as a yes then. Bye Little Ribbon! I'll see you later!! Fuji waved slightly and returned to the court.

* * *

"Wh-what…?" Mia stuttered and sat back slowly on the chair and looked at the two girls.

"Aww. Don't worry about Fuji-senpai!" they laughed, "He likes to tease younger kids."

"Especially if they're cute!!" added Tomoka with a sly grin.

"Huh?" Mia's face turned warm all of a sudden.

"Heeheehee!! Mia's blushing!!" laughed Tomoka.

"It's true!!" Sakuno laughed along.

"Guys!! Quit it!!" Mia whined, covering her face with her hands.

"Alright…alright…We'll stop…" Tomoka said, wiping a tear from her eye, "Right now, let's watch them." She said turning towards the court. "Now pay attention Mia, the regulars are about to start!!"

**Yeah. It was a pretty long chapter :P **

**Hope you enjoyed it, and since I'm on a roll, and I've already started the next chapter, expect it soon!!**

**Thanks for reviewing/adding to favorites/or simply reading guys!! Those reviews really inspire me a lot and motivate me to write some more!! Don't stop!!**

**See ya next time!!**


	13. Chapter 13! No Title Yet xD

**Hey everyone!!**

**Kuripsu here bringing you Chapter 13!! Luck number 13!! Yay!! **

**This chapter's really long (to make up for the...long time you've waited...^^') so get ready to read! Actually, this chappie was supposed to be longer, I just cut it short and the next one will be its continuation!! Ah, and sadly this chapter still doesn't have a title...still can't think of one you see... But I'll put one when I think of one, so you guys wouldn't have to call it Chap 13: Chap 13. xDD**

**I also edited one of the previous chapters, the one where Kai arrives in Japan? Yeah,the ending only. Check it out later k? It sounds cheesy :D**

**Hahaha, now enough with the chit-chat, on to the**** story!! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own POT. I do not take POT. O.o (Wait, what??) **

* * *

Chapter 13: (No title yet.)

"_Alright…alright…We'll stop…" Tomoka said, wiping a tear from her eye, "Right now, let's watch them." She said turning towards the court. "Now pay attention Mia, the regulars are about to start!!"_

* * *

"Yaata!! Go Ryoma my love!!" cheered Tomoka rather loudly when it was Ryoma's turn to rally.

"G-go Ryoma-kun…!!" cheered Sakuno, although not as loud as Tomoka.

"Hmm? What's wrong Ishida-chan?" Sakuno asked Mia when she noticed that Mia seemed distracted. "Right now we were expecting you to ask a random question about the regulars or something…"

"Hey…are you bored or something?" asked Tomoka.

"N-no…it's not that!! Don't worry!!" Mia answered, waving her arms in front of her. "It's just that…"

"Just what?" they asked getting more curious because they saw a hint of red creeping into her cheeks.

"Anou…"

"Hahaha!!" Tomoka giggled, and then her volume turned lower so that no one else but them or anyone near could hear. "You're still bothered with what Fuji-senpai did!!"

"Don't worry about him Ishida-chan! He likes to tease younger kids…"

"…Especially if they're cute!!" added the noisy pigtailed girl with a mischievous smile plastered on her face.

"Wh-what…??" stuttered Mia, her face turning strangely warm.

"And anyway, you have a good excuse, after all he really is good-looking isn't he?? Am I right Sakuno?"

"Yeah…!" Sakuno agreed softly and glanced at Ryoma, hoping he didn't hear it, but he did, and as she nodded to Tomoka's comment, his grip on his racquet tightened.

"Heads up Echizen!" yelled one of the ball boys as he threw a ball towards Ryoma.

"Hah!!" Ryoma shouted as he hit the ball as hard as he could with a Cyclone Smash. The ball span rapidly as it flew dead straight towards the boy.

"Whoa!" he cried as he dodged out of the way just in time. The ball hit the wall behind and continued spinning until after a while it slowed down and dropped on to the court floor. "Echizen…what the heck was that for…???" he whimpered.

"Tch. Mada mada dane." Ryoma smirked, adjusting his cap.

* * *

At the same time, Tezuka who was standing near the bench where the three girls where sitting, overheard their conversation as well.

"Fuji." He called in a commanding tone.

"Hai Buchou?" Fuji asked him in his ever-smiling tone when he reached him.

"50 laps."

"Ah…But Buchou…? I just finished my…" his sentence was cut short as Tezuka gave him one of his 'death glares.'

"Alright then!" he said and started towards the court. _'Hehe. Something really IS bothering him. I wonder if it's that girl…' _he glanced towards his captain and the bench somewhere behind him and smirked, _'Sorry Tezuka, but I really want to know how you feel for this girl. I guess I'll just have to keep testing your emotions until I'm sure of what you feel!!'_

* * *

"Anyways, who's that?" Mia asked, pointing to the team captain whose back was turned back to them.

"Ah that's Buchou."

"Buchou…?" Mia wondered aloud. Apparently, it was her first time encountering that word.

"Yeah. Buchou…hmm…Captain…!" explained Sakuno.

"Oh…I'm still learning Japanese right?" Mia giggled, bopping her head slightly with her fist. Suddenly, she noticed something, "Nee…how come he's not practicing with the others?"

"Well because…"

"Er…um…"

The two girls stared at her blankly, trying to find an answer to her question. The thought never occurred to them that they haven't ever seen the captain practice with his team. All they saw him do during practice was call out commands to the other members of the team. Yet why was he so good when they never even saw him practice in school?

"Does that mean he practices in all his free time?? How does he study…? Or maybe he doesn't even need to…maybe he was born knowing everything!!"

"Tomo-chan, you know that's impossible…! But then again…if he's that good and we don't see him practice in school…does that mean he doesn't have any time to have fun…?"

The two girls argued for a little while and turned back to Mia, who was staring at them bewildered.

"So…have you found an answer?" she asked them, more amused than curious now.

"Yeah!!" piped up Tomoka, "Let's just say he doesn't practice with them because he's already really, REALLY good!!"

"Yeah! Tezuka-buchou is already good, so I guess he can practice anytime."

"Hmm…Tezuka-buchou?" Mia wondered out loud as she turned to look at the team captain again.

Tezuka heard her mention his name and turned his head slightly to the side to see if she was calling him.

"So Eyeglass-san is the captain then…that's cool…" she smiled at him and waved ever so slightly that he was the only one who noticed. In turn, he nodded at her and turned back to the court. Somehow, he couldn't seem to wipe out the thought that Mia was sitting there behind him, watching him and he felt strangely light again.

"Wow. He actually turned to look at us." Tomoka gushed softly, and turned to look at Mia with an eager look in her eye.

"Er…I thought you liked Echizen…?" asked Mia.

"Well of course I do!! It's just that the captain doesn't look so bad either~!" she laughed.

"He looks cold doesn't he?" remarked Sakuno in a hushed tone, "Don't worry though. Even though he doesn't look it, he's actually pretty nice…and he's a gentleman too."

Mia smiled inwardly and looked up at Sakuno and Tomoka "Hmm…he actually does seem nice~" then she remembered something she noticed all the time whenever they were together. "But…he always seems to be thinking hard about something..."

The two other girls leaned in closer to hear what she was about to say, since they noticed that her eyes looked deep in thought.

"I wonder what he's thinking of anyway…?" she looked up at him and her eyes stayed on him. _'He's awfully quiet too…'_

"55% chance that he's thinking about tennis, 45% he's thinking of school, 5% chance he's thinking of family matters and friends, and 0.001% he's thinking of something random, like girls." Came a deep voice from behind them.

"Ah! Data-senpai!" exclaimed Mia.

"Nyaa~ That's a cute nickname Ishida-chan~!!" Eiji cheered as he bounced over to them, "I want to call you that Inui!! Data-chan! Or better yet, Data-pyon!!" A few others came over laughing at the new nickname.

"Hn." mumbled an uninterested Inui as he jotted down more notes in his notebook.

From afar, Tezuka watched as the group laughed along with Eiji's antics. Mia looked so happy with them. He felt both happiness and a twinge of protectiveness as he watched them carefully and noticed that this was the only group, other than Sakuno and Tomoka who made Mia feel comfortable where she was now, well, as relaxed as she was whenever she was with him…alone with him. He glanced at Fuji, who was finishing up his last few laps. At the same time, Ryoma looked at him too.

'_I have to keep a close eye on this guy.' _thought Tezuka and Ryoma at the same time.

When Tezuka saw that he was done with his laps, and that he was beginning to approach the group, he called out to the others, who were already done with their break.

"Okay! Get back to work! It's time for practice matches!" he shouted.

"Hai!!" they all called and ran back to the court, leaving Fuji only a little time to take a quick drink of water, smile at Mia regretfully and get back to work.

"Careful Tezuka." warned Coach Ryuzaki, watching the scene from afar.

* * *

It was around 4:30 in the afternoon when their practice ended. After saying goodbye to each other, everyone headed out of the court to the school gates, except a few who still had to finish a few school errands.

"Bye then Sakuno! Bye Tomoka!" Mia waved to the two as they exited the courts.

"Aren't you going home as well Ishida-chan?" asked Sakuno when they noticed that she wasn't heading towards the gates, but back to the school.

"Ah, not yet. I'm waiting for my friend." Mia replied, referring to Kai. The other two didn't know about him yet, considering he was in a class higher than them.

"Ah, alright!" said Tomoka as she started to drag Sakuno towards the school entrance, "Bye then!"

Mia smiled and watched them until they disappeared from her sight. When they were gone, she headed back to the school and sat down in the grassy area a little to the side of the building. _'Now what time did he say he was coming out?' _she wondered as she looked at her surroundings. _'Wow. This is a pretty nice spot…it's full of trees and bushes…and flowers~' _she thought happily when she noticed a small bush of purple blossoms. _'Well…no one's looking…I guess I could…' _she thought, playing with a flower in the palm of her hand.

"Fsshhh…"

"Huh?" she turned and saw a tall figure, his face shaded over with the shadows of the leaves. "Ah!!" she cried out and accidentally pulled the flower from the stalk. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, "I killed it!!"

'_Killed it?' _the figure thought as he stepped out from under the trees, the orange afternoon sun illuminating his face, revealing a very surprised looking Kaidoh.

"Ah—you're from the tennis club!!" exclaimed Mia when she recognized him, suddenly she noticed that he was holding something in his left hand. "Huh? What's that…?" she asked, approaching him slowly.

"No…! It's nothing!!" he exclaimed and stuffed whatever it was in his pocket. "Anyway, it was cool what you did back there." He said gruffly, holding out his free hand, "I'm Kaoru Kaidoh, I wasn't able to introduce myself properly back there."

She smiled and shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Ishida Mia~"

"Shouldn't you be going home now? It's getting dark and all." He pointed it out, his voice hoarse for some strange reason.

"Ah…not yet…I'm waiting for my friend." She said, gesturing to the building with her thumb.

"Oh. Alright." He said, turning his back towards her, "I guess I'll be going now. See ya around." And with that, he left Mia alone with the flower bush.

'_Haha…he's a pretty shy guy…' _she smiled after him, then she turned back to the purple flower cupped in her hands, the edges were already starting to curl towards the center. '_I'm really sorry little flower…In turn, I'll sing a song for you…' _Then she looked around to see if anyone was there._ 'Now that I'm all alone…here goes~' _

* * *

**Ah ok!! That's all I have to show you now~ Thanks for reading and everything~!!**

**Sorry for all the grammar errors and stuff...**

**It's our sem break so I guess I'll be able to work on the next chapter really fast xD I already made 3 future chapters so all I need to do is to make another chapter to bridge them all together :P**

**Thanks again for reviewing, reading, adding to favorites or just plain clicking on the story title or hearing about the story =))**

**See ya next time!! Bai~~**


	14. Under the Tree

**Yo everyone! Kuripi here bringing you chap 14!! **

**Whoa lol, this is like the quickest time I've updated!! Well, there's a first time for everything right? And besides, I'm on a roll xDD**

**Yeah, I'm getting so excited, writing the next parts of the story...'cause it's getting good xDD **

**Anyways, thanks everyone for reading and reviewing my fanfic it makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over and it inspires me to write even more~!!**

**To darksunshine, the insert of Kaidoh at the last part DOES have something to do in the future chapters of the story xD You'll just have to wait 'til that part comes out xD (That goes to you too readers!!)**

**Erm...to those who haven't watched the OVA...There's like a spoiler here...so be warned :))** **(It's not so big anyway, so don't worry :P) **

**Now...on to the story!! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own POT!! But I wish I did... :'(**

Chapter 14: Under the Tree

_Previously..._

'_Haha…he's a pretty shy guy…' she smiled after him, then she turned back to the purple flower cupped in her hands, the edges were already starting to curl towards the center. 'I'm really sorry little flower…In turn, I'll sing a song for you…' Then she looked around to see if anyone was there. 'Now that I'm all alone…here goes~' _

* * *

"Go easy on him son. You wouldn't want him to get a heart attack at such an early age now, do you?" Coach Ryuzaki told Tezuka when practice was done and he was the only one in the court.

"No Sensei." He replied coolly. _'What was I doing? Was I trying to kill my friend!?' _he thought as he tried to recall his feeling back then and there at the court. He knew what happened before, he didn't know if Fuji really liked her or not, but he couldn't be too sure. _'Why am I feeling so protective!?' _he shut his eyes tightly.

"Is there anything bothering you Tezuka?" his coach asked him.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He said clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Hmm. You sure? You'd better go home then and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes Sensei." He nodded at her and she made her way back towards her office. He was about to go as well when suddenly she called him.

"Ah, and one more thing."

"Hn?"

"Be careful son." And with that final statement both of them went their separate ways.

'_I wonder what she meant by that…? Be careful…?' _Tezuka thought as he exited the gates of the tennis court. As he stepped onto the main pathway of the school, a strong wind blew then suddenly he stopped.

_I'm tired of walking; the rain begins to fall,_

_Yet I still chase after that rabbit, impossible to catch_

_I suddenly remember you, your eyes like the clear _

_Water deep down in the ocean_

'_Hm…? Someone's singing…?' _he wondered as he tried to look for the source of the voice. _'It seems to be coming from behind the school…' _and he headed over.

_Call me, please call me, I'm here,_

_Lost and confused, where can I go to, to where I feel safe and sound?_

'_Sorry flower…this is the only song I know right now in Japanese!!' _Mia closed her eyes and smiled apologetically as she continued her song.

Tezuka reached the grassy area behind the school and heard the voice clearer and louder than before. It was closer to him than he expected it to be and he started searching for the voice. He heard the voice coming from the middle of a couple of flower bushes and stopped under a tree nearby as he closed his eyes to listen. '_That voice…it's so soft and sweet…' _he thought as he relaxed all over. All his feelings of tension went away as he drowned in the delicate notes of the song.

_Call me, please call me, I'm here,_

_Lost and confused, where can I go to, to where I feel safe and sound?_

'_I wonder who's singing? Her pitch is so perfect. Her voice, so soft and mellow, so earnest and pure…I have to find out who it is…' _and as if he was under a trance, Tezuka peeked out of the tree trunk to see who owned the voice and saw none other than Mia sitting on the grass, singing softly to something cupped in her hands. _'Ishida-san…is singing…?' _he stood there, amazed at her harmonious voice.

_Home. Let's go home, take me home, and when tomorrow comes_

_Will we still be laughing, saying that everything's ok?_

'_I've never felt so relaxed before…' _he remarked quietly as he leaned back against the tree trunk and sat down on the soft grass below. "It's a shame that your voice isn't heard by many people Ishida-san…"he murmuredsoftly as he closed his eyes, completely absorbed in the song and her voice.

_Call my name, please call my name, I'll gladly embrace you_

_Close your eyes, let's close our eyes and remember those times_

_You completed the imperfect me, the parts I lacked in,_

_You made me forget all those sad feelings_

_Now I'm not a—_

Mia stopped singing and looked behind her. No one was there, but she was sure she heard someone mention her name. She quickly stood up and went over to her bag which was resting against a tree trunk, the same tree where Tezuka was resting his head upon.

'_Hm? Why'd she stop singing…?' _he wondered, wanting to peek at what was happening again. But he stopped just in time.

"I-I'm sorry little flower…" he heard her say. Her voice was so close to him now, he wondered why it was though. "I thought I heard someone mention my name…" she spoke softly.

'_Who is she…talking to…?' _

"I'd gladly sing continue the song for you…" at this point, Tezuka heard a small thump on the grass behind him and figured that Mia had taken a seat under the same tree he was relaxing under, except that they were sitting on opposite sides.

"But…" she gave a small sigh and placed the flower on her lap gently, "I have this terrible stage fright problem…"

"Ah!! I wish I didn't have stage fright…" she said wistfully.

Tezuka heard her shuffle a bit in her place and moan softly in frustration. All of a sudden, he spoke up.

"Why do you say that…?" he asked her, feeling a bit disappointed that she stopped singing just because of that problem. Suddenly a thought popped in his head. _'Wait…What?? Why'd I reply to her…? I just blurted it out. Will she even reply…?' _

And she did, unsurprisingly. "Well...I like singing...I really do!! It's just that well...when I'm told to sing in front of an audience...I get all nervous and my body just freezes." She said softly, gently fingering the flower petals as she talked, "Because of that, I can't help Kai in his competition...I mean...he needs me in the second part, he asked me and I...ah!! No!!" she groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"…Then if you don't want to then don't." he replied coolly, trying to hide his annoyance. For all he knew, Kai might've bullied Mia to do it, seeing how he treated her in the airport.

"N-no! It's not like that!" she exclaimed, sensing a hint of hostility in his voice and suddenly realizing what he was thinking. "He may not seem like it, but Kai is actually the type of person who really cares for people." She explained, suddenly feeling peaceful. "Not only those who are close to him, but he cares for others as well. He's actually very kind and considerate...he just doesn't seem to want to show it..."

Tezuka felt a strange pang in his heart when he heard her talking about him like that. Well, he didn't really know him that well, but still…

Nevertheless, he listened to her speak. He wanted to know more about Kai. He wanted to know more about the guy Mia was always with, yet he didn't know why he was so curious…and tense.

"He's not asking me to do it to help him, he wants me to help myself…" she sniffled, "I really want to help…but…" her voice faded away and he heard her sigh again.

'_Ishida-san…you're crying…?' _he thought, suddenly feeling the need to go over to her side and comfort her. But as he was about to stand up, he felt a strange sensation that there was something stopping him, and he sat back down again. The least he could do now was give advice. "I had a problem like that before." He said, recalling his experience of meeting the little girl before and the three bullies. "There was a part in my life when I held back because of stupid conditions that I thought would restrain me."

"R-really…?" Mia asked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"They called it yips. **(A/N: Okay lol. This is true xD It's in the OVA. Sorry for spoiling…I warned you before didn't I?)** It's a condition where your muscles can't move due to being atrophied by extreme muscle tension."

"Uh…"

"It's what you call stage fright." He explained, realizing there were some words she wouldn't understand.

"Ah…right…sorry…" she apologized, twiddling her fingers.

"Listen; if you let this stop you, you have no idea what you're missing. It will be pathetic, seeing you weren't even able to try since you were scared. You wouldn't be able to live right, knowing that there was something you didn't do because you were afraid." He said rather harshly, "You'll be regretting it your whole life."

_'…'_

"Nee…you're right…" she murmured after a moment of contemplation. "I _am_ being a coward…I'm being a coward…I'm too afraid to try because I'm have a feeling I'm going to fail."

'_But if I keep thinking this…am I going to spend my whole life not doing anything just because I'm afraid…??' _she realized and continued speaking, more encouraged now.

"But as they say, you'll never know if you try, right?" then she smiled, "Thanks for making me remember that. I know what to do now. Mom told me to never be afraid of trying because there's a chance you'll get it right, and if I get it wrong, I'll learn."

Tezuka heard her laugh softly and he immediately calmed down. He felt happy as well. _'Ishida-san, it's nice to hear you laugh. Don't ever be sad again, please?' _he thought smiling inwardly. "So now…" he started then stopped all of a sudden. _'Just say it. There's nothing to be afraid of. Like she said, don't be afraid to try.' _

"Yes?" she asked, still smiling.

"Will…you sing now…? For me?" he asked her, suddenly feeling nervous. But it wasn't obvious, in his usual tone of voice.

"Eh…?" she remarked, feeling nervous as well. "W-well…"

"When you sing, don't think about the people you're singing to. Perform for yourself. Think of yourself in a place where you feel at peace if you want." He said.

"Since you helped me…" she murmured, "Okay~! Thanks again, Moku-san~!" she smiled brightly.

"M-moku-san…?" he asked, _'Mr. Wood!?'_

"Only kidding~ I know it's you Tezuka-san!" she laughed, "Okay~ Here I go!!"

She took a deep breath and continued the song from where she left off.

_You completed the imperfect me, the parts I lacked in,_

_You made me forget all those sad feelings_

_I'm not afraid anymore_

_I was always lying, saying that I'm okay when I'm not,_

_I regret those words I said, now that I'm an adult _

_I'm open now_

'_Don't stop singing Ishida-san… Please don't. I don't ever want to be free of this feeling.' _Tezuka thought, feeling serene again. _'It's a shame only I heard it now. I hope you can share this talent of yours to others as well…' _

"Never be afraid…" he murmured as he drifted off to light slumber.

_Even though humiliated and discouraged _

_My burning soul and dreams keep me dancing,_

_I'll continue, I'll go on, so that I can be free_

* * *

Takahata Kai stepped out of the school door and looked around him. The sun was at its lowest now and no student was around the campus anymore. _'I doubt that idiot waited for me. She's probably at home now, playing with that cat of hers.' _He thought, walking down the steps and onto the pathway in front of the school. _'If only I didn't volunteer for that after-school program…I'm busy enough already.' _He complained in his head as he passed by the trees at the school's side.

_Home, let's go home, let's meet behind the moon,_

_Where that white rabbit is hidden_

_Home. Let's go home, take me home, and when tomorrow comes_

_I'll be laughing, walking barefoot towards you_

'_What with the competition coming and all…' _Kai thought getting annoyed with each step he took.

_I'll call, I'll call your name, and I'll gladly embrace you_

_Close your eyes, let's close our eyes and remember innocent times._

'_After all…I'm not stressed. It's just some event where I play the flute. No big deal. Pretty boring anyway.' _His thoughts slowly stopping as he came to a halt. "That's Mia…" he exclaimed softly and tried to look around for her, "She's singing? I thought she had that problem of hers and everything…"

_I'm tired of walking; the rain begins to fall,_

_Yet I still chase after that rabbit, impossible to catch_

'_Her voice is amazing…' _he thought, relaxing and feeling calmer than usual, _'It's too bad that she's too much of an idiot to show her talent to anyone else. I mean, this is only the 2__nd__ time I've heard her sing…' _He stopped at a small clearing, where he saw Mia resting under a tree trunk, singing softly to herself as she held a small flower close to her heart.

_I suddenly remember you, your eyes like the clear _

_Water deep down in the ocean_

_Call my name; please call my name because I'm here now,_

_I'm home, and I'll tell, tell you my heart is fulfilled._

* * *

Kai's POV

Mia was sitting under the tree…her eyes were closed, and she was singing as if the song was only meant for her…

'_It's pretty selfish, for her to keep that voice all to herself, and maybe even to that little flower she's holding.'_ I thought, leaning against one of the other tree trunks nearby. I was probably hidden, seeing that when she slowly opened her eyes when she finished her song, all she did was smile.

She was smiling there under the shade of the gnarled tree, in the glow of the orange sunset.

Mia was so beautiful, smiling peacefully, holding that small purple flower close to her face. Her glowing profile, she looked like a goddess…

* * *

"How's that?" she asked him softly after her song. She didn't even seem to notice that he was there as she sang. She followed his advice and completely relaxed as she sang her song and completely forgot everything about the world around her.

"Hn." He said gruffly, _'It was beautiful. Your enchanting voice washed over me…completely refreshing me and taking away all my problems and tensions…Thanks so much for that…' _

"It was…good." He said, closing his eyes and feeling stupid.

"Hmm…good only? Oh well~ Beggars can't be choosers right?" she giggled and fiddled with the petals of the flower again. "I wonder if Kai's out now...?" she wondered aloud, looking up.

And as if on cue, Kai stepped out from behind the trees, acting as if nothing happened. "Idiot. I figured you'd be here." He said loudly, trying his best to be annoyed with her, but after that scene, he doubted he could even keep his face straight.

"K-Kai!! You're here!!" she exclaimed, standing up and dusting her skirt, "Wh-when did you come h-here!?"

"Hn. Who cares about that? Let's go home. I'm starving." He replied, already starting to walk away.

Mia gave a sigh of relief and turned back to the tree, she could somehow make out Tezuka's figure sitting behind the trunk. _'Huh!? He was that close!?' _she realized, her face starting to warm up and her heart beating faster.

"I guess I'll see you next week then." He said all of a sudden, soft enough so that only Mia could hear.

"Ah!! H-hai!!" she stuttered, her face still warm, "See you then!!" she said, placing the flower on his lap. "Th-thanks for everything Moku-san!!" she smiled and ran back to Kai.

* * *

"Moku-san?" Kai asked doubtfully as they walked back to the apartment, "The whole time you were waiting for me, you were talking to a tree…??" he laughed then turned to her, a mischievous smirk on his face, "Haha! Only an idiot like you could make friends with a tree!" he teased.

Mia pouted and looked away. "Well, he was a nice tree!! Much nicer than you I have to say! You're just jealous!!" she retorted.

"Jealous? Of a tree? You're kidding me!" Kai laughed as he ruffled her hair. Then he smiled, "But I heard you."

Mia and Kai both stopped walking.

"Heard me what?"

"Sing." He replied as if there was nothing special about it. "Maybe I'm jealous of the tree 'cause you sang to it and not me." He said closing his eyes and looking away.

"Y-you heard me…?" Mia stuttered, her tone of voice rising a tiny bit higher in panic.

"Yeah. And you know what?" he murmured, leaning in closer to her face unexpectedly.

"Wh-what…?" she asked, her heartbeat speeding up a little.

"You looked so dumb." He said nonchalantly, flicking her forehead and pulling back.

"K-Kai…!" she whined in protest as she rubbed her forehead. She then looked up to see that he was already a few yards ahead of her, running away and sticking his tongue out playfully. "You're going to pay for this!!" she explained and started running after him.

"You can't catch me!!" he laughed teasingly and sped up.

"W-wait up!!" she cried, now laughing as well.

_'That's it Mia. Smile and be proud! Don't let this stupid stage fright problem pull you back from being the best you can be!!'_ he thought as he slowed down and waited for her to catch up.

* * *

**Okay! That's it for now!! **

**Sorry for any grammar errors, my editor I think...is probably sleeping at this time now...(So early! .)**

**Gah!! Thanks so much for reading, adding to favorites, reviewing, or just plain clicking!! (Bunnies come out and bow along with me~)**

**'Til next time!!**

**Kuripi~**

* * *


	15. The Problem With Socks

**Hiya everyone! Just a few notes about chapter 15...**

**1. Credit to Stephen King's The Dark Tower Book III—The Waste Lands =D**

**I just love that book!! Sorry~~ I just had to use a small part for the story!! But it's copyrighted!! Don't worry!! Owned by Stephen King!! Not mine!! Aaaahh!!! QoQ**

**2. And about Tezuka's grandfather, I really don't know how his personality's like so sorry if he's OOC okay? Forgive me!! And go easy on the flamers~~**

**Alright!! Here's chapter 15~!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PoT. Aflubadubdub. I do not own those lines from the book Tezuka's reading too!! They belong to Stephen King!! NOT ME!!**

Chapter 15: The Problem With Socks

_I was on a grassy hilltop somewhere in the countryside… I looked around; there was nothing else beyond the horizon besides an endless field of yellow and virgin white flowers… The sky stretched on all sides above me like an infinite sky blue canvas…where a few puffy clouds were spotted here and there, gliding playfully with the cool summer breeze. _

_The ground supporting me was firm and rigid, yet the grass covering it was as soft as a pillow… I lay down on the soft grass and closed my eyes. It was so relaxing and calm…so still. 'It's too quiet actually…' I murmur as I think of a way to break the deafening silence. I don't want to shout or talk, because it will destroy the mood of this field…so instead…I sing…_

_All of a sudden…I feel something or someone brush my face lightly. A deep voice tells me not to stop singing. 'Who are you?' I ask softly. There is no answer, yet I still feel the person's presence close to me. I want to open my eyes to see who that person is but…for some strange reason…When I try opening them, all I see is a blinding white light…And I can hear someone faintly calling my name…'Mia…'_

* * *

"Mia!! Darn it!! Wake up!!" yelled Kai, who was standing over her sleeping figure, clicking a flashlight on and off in front of her face. "How are you doing back there Kyle?" he called, leaning back to check on Kyle who was sitting at the foot of the bed, repeatedly whacking his older sister with a pillow.

"No good General Kai!! The monster's not waking up!!" Kyle replied rather cheerfully, playing make-believe Godzilla using his imagination.

"Hmm…" Kai wondered, placing a finger on his temple to show Kyle that he was thinking. All of a sudden, he raised his pointer up and pointed at the open door. "It's time to use the heavy artillery then Private!! We'll need those supersonic sound wave cannons of yours!!" he said, playing along with Kyle's game. "Go and fetch them!!"

"Yes sir!!" Kyle shouted, saluting Kai, and then he ran out of the room and into his room to look for those 'sound wave cannons.'

Meanwhile, Kai pulled up a chair close to Mia's bed and sat down on it. "You twit. Wake up already, we have something important to tell you!!" he grunted, waving the flashlight in front of her in a bored manner. "Ever since we were small, I'd be the only one who could wake you up in the morning." He sighed, feeling faintly irritated. But as he watched her peaceful face and her chest rise and fall softly with each relaxed breath, his irritation slowly faded away.

"Well…it's a good thing we were neighbors…" he whispered, smirking as he brushed a strand of hair away from her face. When he was close to her face, he saw her mouth move as if she was saying something, and he went closer to her to hear what she was mumbling.

"…Kai you bully. Don't strangle that hamster…!" she moaned softly and rolled over to the other side of the bed, accidentally hitting his face with a pillow.

"Mph!!" he groaned as the pillow came in contact with his face and slid back down on the bed. "You're gonna pay for this when you wake up idiot…" he grunted.

"Okay General!! I've brought the cannons you asked for!!" exclaimed Kyle, running into the room with some cymbals.

"That's great private!!" Kai replied, startled by his sudden appearance. "Ah!!" He straightened his face and his posture the minute he realized what position he was in and continued; "Bring them over here and we can start!!" he told him rather awkwardly as he stepped back and let Kyle go between him and the bed.

"On 3!! 1…2…3!!"

'_CLASH!!' _

--Went the cymbals as Kyle repeatedly banged them against each other, laughing. Kyle stood behind, covering his ears while looking at the scene. A mischievous smile on his face.

"AH!!" exclaimed Mia as she sat up on the bed with a start. "I'm awake!! I'm awake!! Enough already!!" she cried. Kyle stopped banging them together and grinned widely just as Mia lost her balance on the bed and fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"Owie…" she whined, rubbing her back, "Quit laughing guys…Why'd you wake me up like that…??"

"You should've seen your face!! You…looked so…stupid!!" said Kai trying to stifle his laughter. Finally he couldn't hold it in anymore and sat on the bed, laughing with glee.

"Yeah sis!! Even Mr. Snufflie's laughing!!" said Kyle in between laughs.

"Okay…okay…enough…" said Mia, standing up slowly and fixing her bed. "You guys still haven't answered my question!! Why'd you wake me up?" she reiterated. She looked at her clock and saw that it was 10 minutes to 12. _'Oh my!! I slept that long!? Good thing it's a weekend!'_

"Oh yeah." said Kai, immediately stopping his laughter and looking bored again, "Your cat's gone."

"What…?" asked Mia groggily, rubbing her eyes as she looked up at the two of them.

"Yeah older sister!! We saw Socks this morning…but when I went out to feed her…she wasn't in her little house." Said Kyle, starting to clean up the mess he made. "We looked everywhere…but we couldn't find him."

"We haven't gone out of the house yet. She couldn't have gotten very far anyway…" Kai pointed out as he played with the flashlight in his hands. "So…are you going to help us look?" he asked her, slapping the flashlight against his hand lightly.

* * *

"Miaow…"

Tezuka Kunikazu looked up from the book he was reading to see a black cat with white markings emerge from a flower bush in his garden. It seemed to be lost, since its fur was a slightly dirty but it couldn't be a stray since it had a red band around its neck, although equally dirty it was still a collar and that meant it belonged to someone. The cat studied him over for a little while before it started approaching him slowly, meowing loudly.

'_Poor creature…' _he thought, putting down the book and placing the cat on his lap.

"Meow…" it purred loudly when he started stroking it.

"Hmm…you're pretty tame…do you want to stay here for the meantime?" he asked, smiling as he pet it. "Don't worry!! Ojii-san will take good care of you!!" he said.

* * *

The next two hours were spent on trying to find Socks along the street where their apartment was found.

"Socks!!" called Mia, scanning both sides of the streets for any sign of her cat but sadly, there was no trace.

"Come on sis!! It's past lunchtime already and you haven't had anything to eat since you woke up!!" said a very worried Ducky, who was sitting on a nearby bench munching on a cookie. "Here!! Have a cookie!! Mr. Snufflie's worried about you!!"

"N-no thanks Ducky…" Mia smiled, gently putting down his outstretched hand, "It's yours. You have to eat."

"You have to eat too you know," remarked Kai, taking a sip from a bottle of water, "You're acting all stupid again."

"Kai…not now please…" she scolded him softly and just as she did, she thought she saw something black dart past her out of the bushes and past the three companions. "Socks?" she called out and started after the black figure.

"Hey wait!!" exclaimed the two others and started running after her, but when she turned a corner, they lost sight of her completely.

"S-sis…?" stuttered Kyle, looking around for his older sister. "Where could she have gone?" He looked up at Kai who was looking around as well. "K-kai?"

"Tch, she runs so fast when she's panicked, that idiot. That wasn't her cat." He sighed and looked at the long street in front of him. "Don't worry Kyle; your nitwit sister couldn't have gotten very far." He reassured Kyle, who took hold of his hand now. "Now let's go back home and wait for her to come back."

"Okay…" Kyle whispered as the two made their way back to their apartment. "But what if she gets lost again?"

"Don't worry! She'll be fine!" Kai laughed, messing up Kyle's hair. "If there's one thing that impresses me about that idiot is her ability to somehow find her way back home. She may get lost going to other places, but when it's about home she knows exactly where to go!!"

* * *

"Come back here!!" Mia called out as she ran after the black creature. After she saw the black figure dash past her awhile ago, she concluded that it really was a cat and chased after it through alleyways and parks around the area. When she finally got it cornered against an alley wall, the cat turned around revealing a mud stained face and a hideous scarred eye.

"Owww…" a loud creaky noise erupted out of its mouth that Mia thought was a meow and with that, it jumped on top of a ledge and scurried away.

"Eh…?" she exclaimed, a little confused. "I guess that wasn't Socks then…Poor cat…" She forlornly turned away from the alley wall and headed back to the main street, and turned the corner she thought she came from. _'Too bad that wasn't Socks…I can't believe that she'd run away!! Maybe I treated her badly yesterday and I just didn't notice it…' _she thought feeling the guilt wash over her whole body, _'but what did I do?' _She walked on, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. All the tiredness from her running only seemed to come to her now. Mia looked around as she walked, appreciating the new sights and sounds around her and she started to relax a little.

'_Wait…new sights and sounds?' _she stopped and looked around. Something didn't feel right. The buildings seemed taller and closer to each other in this area, there were fewer trees around and there seemed to be more people than usual.

A wave of panic replaced the temporary calmness she had felt earlier. She didn't notice her surroundings change earlier since she'd been chasing the street cat, although she could sort of remember bumping into several people and shouting quick apologies to them as she ran. _'Why didn't I notice that before!!?' _she asked herself, starting to walk around again, except this time, it was more hurried._ 'Oh no!! Where am I?' _

* * *

_The gunslinger looked up into the starry sky his brow creased in deep thought. Then an amazingly sunny smile broke across his features and he recited—_

'_Skritch' _

'_What's that sound…?' _Tezuka thought, looking up from the book he was reading towards his bedroom door. He listened for a little while longer, but no other sound came back. He shrugged and turned back to his book.

'_See the TURTLE of enormous girth! _

_On his shell he holds the earth._

_His thought is slow—_

'_Skritch…skritch…'_

…_His thought—_

'_Skritch'_

_is slow—_

'_Skritch'_

_but—_

'_Skritch' _

_always…kind—_

'_Skritch…skritch…'_

Tezuka sighed and put the book down on his desk. He couldn't concentrate on what he was reading because of those strange scratching noises coming from behind the door. If he wanted to read properly and without interruptions, he had to find out what that noise was and stop it. He went over and opened his bedroom door, poked his head outside and looked around. Nothing seemed to be different or out of the ordinary. '_What could've made that noise?'_

All of a sudden, he heard a loud rumbling sound erupt from under him as he felt something small and furry rub against his leg. "Huh?" he wondered as he looked down and saw two large amber eyes stare at him from the face of a black cat. _'Since when have we had a cat…?' _He thought, bending down to stroke its fur.

"Miaow…" it purred as it rubbed itself hard against the back of his hand.

"Hello…and where did you come from…?" he asked it softly as it climbed up his lap and started kneading the cloth of his pants with its claws. "You look like you've been through a lot…did you come a long way?" He asked it, absent-mindedly stroking its back. "Hm?" he wondered aloud when he discovered the collar on its neck. "Who is your owner?"

"Miaow…"

All of a sudden, he heard a deep voice come from the corridor.

"Ranpo!! Where are you now? Ojii-san wants to give you a nice warm bath!!"

"Ojii-san?" Tezuka called out to his grandfather, who was already going closer to his room.

"Ah! Kunimitsu!! Have you seen Ranpo?" his grandfather's voice replied loudly.

"Ranpo…?" Tezuka looked down at the relaxed cat on his lap and stood up while slowly cradling it in his arms. "You mean…this….?"

"Oh?" his grandfather arrived at the doorway and looked at the cat Tezuka was holding. "Why, yes!! That's Ranpo!!" he exclaimed happily, reaching over to get the cat. "That's Ranpo my cat!!"

"But…we don't have a cat." Tezuka remarked coolly. "Ojii-san, where did you get this cat?"

"Ah, he wandered into the garden, just a while ago when I was reading the newspaper on the porch." His grandfather recalled, "He was so pitiful, seeing him dirty and ragged like that. His owners must've been very bad to treat him this way, maybe that's why he ran away here, to kind old Ojii-san's arms!!" he exclaimed, making weird conclusions that were totally wrong.

With a small sigh and a smirk, Tezuka started making his way out of the room, together with the cat in his arms.

"Ah!! Where are you going with Ranpo!?" the old man exclaimed, seeing the determined look on Tezuka's face.

"I'm taking it to the police station, where its rightful owners can find it." He replied a matter-of -factly.

"B-but!!" his grandfather stuttered, following his grandson all the way to the front of the house, trying to reach for the cat, "Ranpo's mine!! His cruel owners mistreated him and he ran away to find the good life!!"

"His 'cruel' owners are probably trying to look for him now, seeing he has escaped from their house. They are probably very worried and must miss him very much, that is why I'm bringing 'Ranpo' to the police station to make their search less difficult." Tezuka replied indifferently as he changed from his house slippers to shoes.

"Eh…but…" Kunikazu sighed and looked up at his grandson. He was right. He was a retired officer after all, and he knew how it was like when parents lost their child, even if it was only for a few minutes. And he knew that it would be cruel and unfair to keep the cat for himself . He really wanted a companion, but he wouldn't resort to stealing one from an innocent person. "You're right. Go ahead grandson, bring him to the station." He said, opening the front door.

"Good." Tezuka said and exited the doorway. Just as he passed by his grandfather, going out of the house, Socks looked back at the old man and gave a great big meow as thanks.

"Hope you find your owners!!" he replied happily, waving back at Tezuka and the cat.

* * *

**Okay! That's it for now!!**

**I made the chapter kind of long to make up for the while I didn't update! So sorry if there are any grammar errors, (I don't see my editor online anymore D:) and if your eyes hurt after reading the chappie~~**

**Thanks for reading and everything!!! Hope you have enough patience to wait for the next chappie!! (It's a pretty busy week in school...what with all those tests and everything...and a costume contest at the end of the week!! AAAHHH!!! What should I go as??? An elegant witch? A mischievous cat like Eiji? (lol.) Or a super serious gunslinger!?!? AAAHHH!!! HELP!!**

**  
****Anyways, bye~~**

* * *


	16. Invitations

**Hey people!! Merry Christmas!!**

**Yeah, so sorry I haven't been able to post in a while...what with the exams and intrams and all...**

**But since it's the holidays and stuff...yeah...So now, I present to you the longest chappie in this fanfic!! (12 pages long lol) Yay!! (Consider it your Xmas gift and all...so...yeah!! Merry Christmas again!! xD)**

**I made it long to make up for the long wait you had to go through...and I'm really sorry for that! Feel free to scream at me and pummel me with I dunno...anything you can find on the street!! (Consider that your 2nd Xmas gift!! xD)**

**Now enough with the chit-chat...and...cue the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PoT!! **Chapter 16: Invitations

* * *

"Mou…where am I??" Mia asked herself, looking around her new surroundings. There were so many tall buildings…and so close together! _'Maybe I wandered off into the main part of the city…' _

she wandered around, trying to look for any sign or a map indicating where she was. She was quite sure she'd been around that area before, although she just couldn't place a finger where and when she'd been there. She looked up at the clear, blue, noon sky as she tried to recall the moment she'd been to this place before. Somehow the sky seemed farther away from where she was standing, and the buildings seemed much taller too. Their shadows stretched from one building to another, causing an eerie gloom on the street below.

"The police station marks the way to the residential area! It's somewhat at the entrance actually…" a woman holding the hand of her 4 year old said when Mia asked her. "It's pretty much a landmark, turn a corner left from the station and you're there!"

"Oh! Thank you! But…"

"Mommy! Mommy! Let's go over there!" said the little girl tugging at her mother's sleeve and pointing to a nearby fast food shop.

"But Chelsea…we just ate!!"

"Yay!!" cheered the little girl, ignoring what her mother was saying and pulling her towards the shop.

"I'm really sorry miss! Just remember, look for the police station!!" the mother called waving to Mia. "Good luck!" she cried just as she was pulled into the shop in front of a bewildered Mia.

Inside the same shop that Chelsea and her mother went to, two certain young boys happened to look out the window at the same time and saw Mia looking at their direction with a fairly confused and dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Hey, isn't that your friend?" Momo looked at Ryoma questioningly as he took a bite from his burger. "What was her name again? Maya? Mayu? Iruka…was it??" he swallowed hard.

"Ishida Mia." sighed Ryoma, not even taking his gaze off the crowded street outside, "Really senpai. You're getting very old and forgetful now…" he remarked, taking a sip from his shake.

"Eh, old? What do you mean? At least I make an effort to try and remember the names of the people I meet, unlike you." Momo responded, grinning mischievously. "Usually, when you meet a girl you forget about her the minute she's out of your view! It's amazing you remember her THAT much." He laughed and took another bite.

"Hn. I'm not THAT insensitive. It's because I have other things in mind."

"Yeah sure, like what?"

"Nevermind!" Ryoma retorted. "Besides, it's only 'cause I always see her with Ryuzaki."

"Hehe~ It's strange that the only girl you always seem to remember is coach's granddaughter!" Momo's grin widened when he saw Ryoma's ears turn bright red. In turn, Ryoma looked down awkwardly to hide the bright red blush that was creeping on to his face.

"Look it's Ryuzaki-san!!" Momo exclaimed all of a sudden.

"Huh? Where?" Ryoma looked up and turned around more eagerly than expected.

"1 point!" Momo exclaimed and returned to his eating.

"…Shut up senpai." Ryoma muttered under his breath.

The two sat in silence for a while, watching the outside world until the older boy noticed Mia entering the shop. _'Uh?' _He wondered when he saw the troubled expression on her face. "Might as well see what's going on. Come on Echizen!" Momo said, dragging Ryoma by the ear and heading of f in Mia's direction.

"Senpai!! Let go of me darn it!!" yelled Ryoma in protest, causing some people to glance at their direction.

Mia felt a rush of horror when she reached into her skirt pocket and found that she had forgotten her wallet. Below, she could feel her stomach growling and protesting in pain and hunger. _'Why!? Why didn't I take the food from Kyle when I had the chance!? Whyyy!?!?' _she groaned and closed her eyes.

"Hello!" grinned Momo, whose face was right in front of hers when she turned away from the counter.

"Ah! Hello Senpai…Momo… (Was it?)" she said, when she recovered from the shock.

"Yeah!!"

Mia tilted her head slightly to one side to see a very irritated looking Ryoma standing behind him.

"Echizen, why are you rubbing your ear?" She asked, blinking twice.

* * *

"So…you ended here because of the cat?" Momo repeated, placing an order for Mia and another for himself. He sort of figured out that she had forgotten her wallet.

"Yeah…" Mia replied, feeling embarrassed that he was treating her out for lunch. "Th-thanks again senpai…" she murmured.

"It was pretty stupid though, going after it like that. Especially since you knew you would get lost." Ryoma commented as the three took their seats.

"Oh come on Echizen. If you lost your cat, I'm sure you'd do anything to find it again."

With that statement, Ryoma let out a high-pitched sound that sort of sounded like a whimper as he couldn't stand the thought of losing Karupin. Mia sighed and looked out the window. Socks was out there somewhere…lost, cold, maybe even hungry and lonely!

"Hey, are you sure that's all you're having?" her senpai asked her suspiciously, breaking her trail of thought. Mia looked slowly from his pointing finger to her tray. She was embarrassed and didn't want to make him spend too much.

"Y-yeah! I'm just thirsty! Th-that's all!" she lied and took a long sip from a glass of water, the only item on her tray. Well, it wasn't really a lie, she thought. She _was _thirsty from all that running and wandering around anyway…

"Hmm…a glass of water only eh? It's practically free…" Momo stated aloud. "Someone's on a diet huh? Trying to impress someone huh?" he grinned and the two boys looked at the girl between them. "Who could it be, I wonder…"

"N-no…! It's not that…" she stuttered and looked down, "I'm not on a diet." She pouted.

"Hmm…you're right, you don't need a diet. You look well enough anyway." said Ryoma, glancing up to his senpai's shoulder. "Unlike this big guy over here. How many burgers have you eaten already? You pig." He tsk-tsked Momo and looked at the two of them boredly.

"Heh, You're just jealous since I'm not scrawny like you are." Momo replied, giving Ryoma a playful shove.

Mia watched the two boys tease and play with each other. How those two acted reminded her so much of her own little brother and her childhood friend whenever she'd catch them alone, especially when they were feeling bored or mischievous.

"Eh, senpai! Get that away from me!" Ryoma protested, pushing Momo's hand away from his face.

'_I love times like these~' _Mia smiled cheerfully as she took the glass from her tray and put it to her mouth, ready to take a drink when all of a sudden, she remembered that she had to go look for the residential area. _'Oh yeah…speaking of time…what time is it?' _From the corner of her eye she saw the store clock on the opposite wall. Tipping the glass slightly so that the icy-cold water slid down her throat, she saw the minute hand move downward and freaked out. _'3:30 already!? How long have I been here in the city!?' _She slammed the glass down on the table and started to cough out the water that went the wrong way down her throat.

"Hey Ishida, you okay!?" Momo and Ryoma immediately stopped their play-fighting and crowded around her.

"I'm… s-sorry!!" she gasped between coughs as the older boy started patting her back. "Really!! …I'm fine!!" she said, gently pushing his hands away.

"Okay then. Here, have some—"Momo looked at the glass of water he was already holding up. "Oh…whoops!"

"Senpai, how stupid can you get!?" Ryoma said and sat down on the chair beside Mia. "What happened anyway?"

"The time…" Mia replied, quieting down after a while. "I have to get back to my house…My mom will worry…"

"Oh alright!" Momo stood up from his chair and picked up his bag. "Let's go then!!"

"Um, thanks for everything senpai…" Mia said, standing up from her seat.  
"…Eh? You're coming along?" she asked, only registering his reply now.

"Yeah. After all, it's dangerous for a girl to walk alone in the crowded city." Momo replied, opening the glass door for his two underclassmen. "And besides, didn't you say you were lost a while ago?"

Mia nodded her head as the three stepped out onto the sidewalk. There were less people now, much to the relief of Mia and in consequence, there was not much noise anymore. That meant less distractions, that they could talk to each other easily and they could also concentrate on what they had to do.

"Anyway…I have something else to do. So…see 'ya around." Ryoma raised one hand slightly in the air and started walking off in one direction.

"Bye Echizen!" the two waved back and looked at each other with a 'now what?' look on their faces.

"A lady said that the police station marked the way back to the residences…" Mia muttered to herself as she started heading off in a random direction.

"Oh. That police station! It's this way!" Momo directed cheerfully, pointing to the opposite direction Mia was going to. "It's pretty near here. Maybe like…15 minutes maybe?" He started walking.

"Oh…okay." She nodded and followed after him. _'Since we're passing by the station, I guess I could tell them about Socks gone missing…' _she thought. _'Where could she be now...I wonder…' _

* * *

"Meow."

"Hey…stop that." Tezuka commanded as he hopelessly watched the small black cat bite and claw at his jacket sleeve.

"Meow." Socks meowed in refusal to obey him and shifted her attention from the boy's sleeve to the watch on his wrist. She watched with large amber eyes the second hand tick slowly away from the printed number 6 and head towards the number 7. Her tail swished from right to left with excitement as she got in a stance ready to pounce.

"You really _are_ troublesome…" he muttered, noticing the way she was looking at his watch and put the cat down for a moment. Socks looked up at him with large almond shaped eyes. A soft rumble came from her throat when he started to stroke and pet her. ''I hope this calms her down…'' He sighed and picked it up and continued on his way. "You know…you seem to have gotten heavier…anyway, we're near the station. I won't have to carry you for long." He said, looking up to see the small building a few meters away.

* * *

"There it is!" Momo grinned, pointing to the police station just across the street. "You can tell the police about your cat, and then we can all go home together!"

"A-arigatou senpai!" Mia stuttered, feeling really happy. "I'll have to repay you guys somehow…" she said to herself when they started walking again.

Momo overheard this and panicked a little. "It's okay Ishida! Unless…" his eyes slowly moved to Ryoma, who was yawning beside him, and a mischievous grin slowly appeared on his lips. "Hey Ishida?" he called, looking back up at her.

"Yes?"

"You think you can arrange a date for Echizen over here and Ryuzaki?" he requested, nudging Ryoma's ribs with his elbow.

"S-senpai!!" Mia thought she saw Ryoma's face grow red for a split second before he looked away. "Why would I want that!?" he retorted, although the color of his cheeks betrayed his expression and made him seem excited…and a bit eager…

"Alright then! I think I have something here that can help…" she smiled and fished around her pocket for something. "Found them!" she exclaimed and handed them each two small envelopes.

"Huh?" the two boys looked inside the envelopes that she placed on their hands.

"What's this?" Momo asked, looking curiously at the ticket he pulled out of the packet.

"It's for the music competition that happens at the end of the week!" she smiled. "I figured that the best way to bring Sakuno-chan somewhere without being too obvious is…well…there!"

"Nee, Echizen? Isn't this the same competition you were telling me about a few weeks before?" Momo asked him, not taking his eyes off from the ticket as he read the details. "The one where you said your cousin will compete in?"

"Ah…yeah." Ryoma replied, remembering that he already had a ticket from his dad and was starting to wonder what he'd do with that one. "But…I already have one." He said looking up at Mia.

"Then you can give that extra one to Sakuno-chan!" she smiled brightly. "That way…you can have your…date?"

"Yeah Echizen! Go for it!" Momo grinned, slapping Ryoma's back with his hand. "And I'll come too! To make sure everything goes well! Thanks Ishida!" he smiled and stuffed the ticket and the envelope in his pocket.

"Hn." Ryoma muttered, his face feeling warmer with excitement. He put the ticket inside the envelope carefully and slipped it inside his pocket.

"No problem!" she nodded at the two of them and they turned around the corner.

"Don't worry about him Ishida. He's always like that." Mia looked back at Momo as they walked. "He's actually really thankful for the extra ticket. You'll get used to him."

"I can see th—" Mia's sentence was cut short when she bumped into something soft…and furry? _'Wh-what was that?' _she wondered and looked up to see two large cat eyes looking back at her. "Socks!!" she cried happily and straightened up.

"Buchou…?" she heard Ryoma's voice from behind her. _'Buchou? Isn't that…'_

She looked up to see the tennis captain's face in front of hers. "Eye…Tezuka-sa…ehem…senpai?" she took a step back and looked at her cat, resting her head between the crook of his elbow and forearm. "Th-that's my c-cat…" she stuttered, reaching over to stroke her fur.

"Eh? Buchou stole her cat?" Ryoma muttered to Momo, who in turn snickered and looked back up to see their captain looking sternly at the both of them.

'_Uh-oh. Did he hear that?'_ Momo wondered as he started to turn away. "Ja! Come on Echizen, let's go then!"

"Uh…yeah." Ryoma agreed, pulling away as well. "Bye—" he was interrupted when Momo pulled him away from the two.

"Well then, see you around Buchou!!" rushed Momo, already at the corner. "See you next weekend Ishida!!" with that, the two boys dashed around the corner and out of their sight.

The two looked at their direction for a moment while an awkward silence crept and fell over them.

'_Next weekend…?' _Tezuka glanced down at Mia for a moment. She was still looking after the direction where Momo and Ryoma disappeared from their sight. His chest started feeling light and fluttery when he realized that her hand was still on his arm when she was about to pet her cat.

"Ishida-san…" he managed to mutter through his irregular breathing.

'Hm?" she looked back at him, then on her hand on his arm, then at her cat. It took her a split second to realize what was happening. "Ah!!" she cried, immediately removing her hand from his arm just as if she touched the inside of an oven while it was still baking, "S-sorry!" she stuttered and looked away.

"Hn." He mumbled. The spot was warm where her hand was just a little while ago. Somehow, he wished that she didn't let go. He looked up at her flushed face and cleared his throat. "This is your cat right…?" he said relaxing a little because he found a topic to talk about. This was the first time in his whole life that he didn't want any silence, he wanted to talk…and this feeling surprised him.

"Y-yeah…" she replied, looking up at him with her brown eyes, but her head was still tilted downwards. "H-her name's Socks…"

"Socks…?" he checked the back of the collar, and indeed the name was there. It was in English, but he was still able to understand it. _'Cute name…'_ he thought, not noticing that a small smile was starting to play on his lips.

"Meoww…." Socks yawned and jumped down from Tezuka's arm to Mia's. This action startled him back to reality and realizing the small smile appearing on his face, he immediately went back to his normal stoic expression.

"Socks-chan…we were really worried about you…Where did you go?" Tezuka watched her scold her pet softly as she cradled it in her arms and he couldn't help but feel relieved.

'_So that cat (Ranpo) was hers…'_ He thought, watching her from behind metal-rimmed spectacles._ 'What would've happened if my grandfather kept it for himself…? I wonder how she would've felt…how I would've felt…seeing her miserable…' _

"Meow!!"

"Socks!!"

The boy's head jerked upwards to see that the cat had jumped out of Mia's arms and was already running off in another direction.

"N-not again…" Mia muttered to herself and started after her cat. She looked behind to see Tezuka running after her cat as well. "Eyeglass-san?" she exclaimed out loud.

"Yeah." he nodded as he ran beside her. "Your cat really is troublesome…isn't she?"

"Y-yeah…" she answered sheepishly and looked up. She made out a small black figure going through some hedge far ahead.

"That's your cat over there, right?"

"Yes, just behind that hedge." She nearly stopped when she couldn't find any other entrance to that place. "Do we have to go through…?" She glanced at her side to see him nod slightly. He slowed down a little, until he was right behind her. All of a sudden, she heard his deep voice behind her, so close to her ear.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Y-yeah!! " She answered. "Wait…how come?" she asked, all of a sudden, she felt his hands holding her shoulder. They were strangely warm, even though it was a cool day. She felt her face becoming warm as well.

"You'll have to be at a certain speed to go through that. If you're not fast enough, you'll just crash."

"Eh?"

"I'm going to give you a boost."

"What!?"

"Get ready…"

"N-no!! Wait!!"

"Go!"

"W-wait!! Eyeglass—"Her reply was cut short since she felt a strong force push her forward from behind. "Ah!" she was suddenly running faster than ever before. The houses and posts around her suddenly became a blur. She could feel the sidewalk below heat up the soles of her shoes. _'Ow!'_ she thought and looked ahead. The hedge! She took a deep breath, shut her eyes and…a blast of leaves and twigs surrounded her as she ran right through could hear the crackling of wood and the crumpling of leaves from behind her when she jumped out. The bright sunlight beaming on top of her caused her to flinch a little but she was able to recover from it quickly. "Eyeglass-san…I'm…never going…to…run with you…ever…again…" she said in between breaths.

She heard the same crackling and crumpling sound from behind her and she looked back at the hedge to see Tezuka burst out of the hedge as well. He stopped in front of her and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.

He looked at her, panting a little from the running. "Are you okay?" he asked her, brushing a few leaves off his shoulder. He noticed a leaf on her head and plucked it off her head.

"Y-yeah…" she stuttered, her chest feeling fluttery for a moment there.

"That's good." He sighed slightly, relieved. He was worried that the push might've injured her in anyway. _'Hn…I have to admit…that was pretty fun…' _he thought, smirking ever so slightly so she wouldn't notice. But…

'_Was it just me? Or did I really see Eyeglass-san smile…?' _Mia wondered, _'I've never seen him smile before. It's such a nice smile…' _she thought looking up at him.

Tezuka noticed the intense look on her face and he looked down at her awkwardly. "What…?" he asked cautiously.

"Nothing…" she whispered, and smiled at him brightly. "Anyway…where are we now Senpai?"

The two of them looked at their surroundings, which was sort of a challenge since they were surrounded by tall trees and bushes.

"We're in the new park." Tezuka concluded when he took a peek behind one of the trees.

"The new park?" Mia wondered aloud as she and her senpai stepped out of the clump of trees and shrubs and into a garden full of white and yellow flowers.

"Yes. A new park, they finished building it earlier this month, before you arrived." He explained, not looking at her but staring ahead at the large fountain in the center of the park.

"Oh…" she murmured, looking down at the paved path she was standing on and brushing her shoes against the smooth stone.

"But since the park is located far from most houses, not much people go here. And haven't you noticed? It's pretty much far from everything around here…" he pointed out.

"Oh yeah…all I saw running here were walls…and poles." She added, looking around. "It's a pity…since it's so nice…"

In fairness, it really was a pretty garden, beautiful even. Evergreen trees and small flowering bushes lined the perimeter of the area. _'These probably covered the fence of the park from the eyes within…'_

The yellow-orange bricks at their feet made a small path through the small and neatly-cut bushes and flowers and went straight to the center, where the large fountain was. The marble fountain had intricate designs all over and spouted clear water at the top that almost seemed to sparkle under the orange afternoon sun. Behind that was a large black gate that reminded Mia of the gates of castles in fairy tale books that her mother used to read for her, and Kai ruined with stories of monsters and haunted houses. Mia looked around to see that there were also other small paths coming from other parts of the large park leading to the center. "Like a sun…" she murmured.

"Hm?" Tezuka looked at her questioningly.

"It's nothing! Anyway, we have to look for Socks now…" she reminded him, already starting to look around.

"Isn't that her?" He asked, pointing at a small black figure that jumped into another clump of trees and bushes across the park.

"Yes, that's her!" she answered and the two of them made their way to the side of the park, running much slower than awhile ago. "Hey…Eyeglass-san?"

"Yes?"

"Why are we so relaxed…?" she asked him in slight confusion.

"Ah…Maybe it's because we're tired…?" he guessed, slowing down to a walk. Mia in turn, slowed down and walked beside him.

"Or maybe it's because of the surroundings…" she murmured, feeling a wave of calmness wash over her. "They're so pretty…" she whispered, looking at the flowers on the sides of the path and not looking where she was going, which was a very bad idea. Tezuka had to pull her out of the way before she bumped into the trunk of a tree.

"Gomen!" she stuttered.

"Just be careful next time…"

The two of them went through the bushes and found themselves on a small stretch of ground. Below they could hear the slight sound of water crashing against the rocks supporting the low cliff. There, sitting at the edge of the cliff was Mia's cat, looking at the two of them intently.

"Meowwww." She yawned and rubbed her back against the trunk of the small tree beside her.

"Socks-chan…" Mia said cautiously approaching her cat.

"Ishida…be careful…" Tezuka told her, approaching the cat as well. "Even though the piece of land is low, falling in there still might cause injuries.

"How low?"

"About 4 feet I'm guessing…"

"H-hai!!" she stuttered and went closer to her cat. "Yah!!" She dove for the cat, but it jumped out of the way, and as consequence, she fell into the cold water.

_SPLASH!!_

"Ishida-san!" he exclaimed and ran to the edge of the rock. "A-are you okay?" he panicked, but thankfully for him it wasn't obvious.

Her head popped out of the water and she looked up at him, an embarrassed smile on her face. "G-gomen Eyeglass-san…! Sorry to make you worry~" she laughed sheepishly.

Relief flooded through him as he bent down towards her. "You…" he cleared his throat and held his hand out towards her. "Here…"

Mia nodded and took hold of his hand, "Thanks…" she said, noticing the small smile of relief on his face, but she decided not to say anything. But just as he was about to pull her up, Socks decided that it was time for something interesting to happen. She ran towards Tezuka and rubbed herself hard against his leg, startling him and causing him to fall in the water as well.

_SPLASH!_

"Ack!" he sputtered when his head surfaced. His glasses were full of little droplets of water, so he couldn't see very well. He removed them and looked to his side to see Mia laughing cheerfully beside him.

"Hahahaha~! You fell in as well!" she giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm really sorry Eyeglass-san, but after that moment…" she couldn't continue since she was laughing so hard.

"Hn…" he muttered, his face reddening. But he couldn't help but feel like laughing as well. After that scene…he cleared his throat before he could even start a snicker. "Anyway, let's get out of this. It's really cold."

"Okay!" she smiled and they both went up to the ledge.

"I'll give you a boost, then you can pull me up from there. Since I'm too heavy for you in the water…"

"Okay!!" she replied cheerfully, but in the back of her mind…_'Oh no…another boost…' _

"Okay…one…two…three…" With number three, Mia was able to get hold of the ledge.

"Got it!" she said, but just as she looked down, the piece of land broke between her thumb and palm, and she fell back down with a thud. _'A thud…?' _Mia opened her eyes slowly, wondering why there was no splash when she fell back in the water and why she was on top of something soft…and why was it rising up and down? She straightened up a little and found herself lying right on top of her senpai.

The following things happened so suddenly. Below, she could feel her heart beating so swiftly in her chest that she thought it would explode. Adrenaline rushed up to her cheeks and she felt hot all over. Her throat became dry and her voice came in a very high, squeaky tone. "S-sorry!" she gasped through irregular breaths.

Below, Tezuka could feel the exact same thing she was feeling. His shortness of breath, the swift pounding of his heartbeat in his ears, his body feeling hot all over, even though the water was ice cold…his hands were shaking with nervousness and excitement as he was still holding on to her small waist. His throat also felt tight and dry, and his reply came in a terrified squeak as well. "I-Ishida…" he stuttered.

"P-please let go…" she mumbled, looking away from his face to try and hide the redness on her face but it was impossible since the their faces were less than 5 inches apart.

"H-huh…?" He looked to the side and saw that she was referring to his hands on her waist. "O-oh…!" he exclaimed and immediately let go. "Yeah…right…sorry." He mumbled as they both stood up awkwardly, looking away from each other.

"L-let's find some other way to g-get out then…" Mia stuttered after she calmed down a bit.

"Hn." He mumbled, his breathing still irregular.

* * *

Soon the two were sitting at the edge of the rock, both soaking wet and freezing. Tezuka decided that since people would stare at the two of them and wonder what two teenagers were doing walking around town soaking wet, they would be better off drying themselves there, even just for a little bit. The two sat in silence as they watched the orange sun sink behind the purple clouds and slowly melt into the sparkling water of the lake.

Tezuka stopped wiping his glasses and glanced to his right to see Mia hugging her knees close to her chest. Her usually wavy brown hair was straight and it clung to her skin due to the cold water. A soft light seemed to emanate from her skin, looking softer and more flushed under the warm glow of the sunset.

"Is there anything wrong Eyeglass-san?" she asked him when she noticed his gaze on her, her gentle voice abruptly stopping his trail of thought.

"No…" he replied, shuffling in his seat awkwardly and gazing at the clear water of the lake ahead of him to avoid her eyes. _'We were so close to each other…So close in fact, I could see the confusion and embarrassment in her eyes… I wonder what she saw in mine…? I thought I could hear her heartbeat…Swift, pounding, and steady in a way…It took me a split second to realize…that the heartbeat was my own…' _

"Hey, senpai? How did you find Socks anyway?" Mia asked all of a sudden, her voice becoming brighter now, as if she had forgotten the whole event that just passed. _'I think I should just forget about what happened…I'll act as if nothing happened… To avoid any awkwardness later on…'_ She started to stroke Socks, who was lying down and napping on her right.

"Ah…actually…it was my grandfather who found her…" he began, feeling relieved that the uncomfortable silence was gone. He told his story, saying each word at ease, as if he didn't have to keep up any image with her, as if he didn't have to hide anything from her. _'I can be myself with her…Just myself…'_ He realized that this was the most he talked to anyone else other than his teammates or his family…and maybe even more. _'It's pretty fun doing all the talking for once…' _

_Achoo! _**(lol…I guess this is the only sound effect for sneezing :P)**

He stopped talking immediately and looked at Mia. Her cold hands covered her mouth and nose, and her eyes were shut tight. "S-sorry!" she apologized meekly, opening her eyes. He didn't reply, but instead he stood up and walked over to the tree where he hung his jacket to dry.

"It's getting late." He said, "Here." holding it out to Mia. "It's still a bit cold from the water, but it'll trap the heat inside if you wear it."

"Th-thanks…but are you sure?" she stood up and took it gratefully from his hands.

"Hn."

She slipped it on and smiled. "You're always so helpful senpai…thanks." Even if the jacket was two sizes too big, it still did a good job keeping her warm.

"Let's go then, we're dry enough. We can stop by my house on the way, where I can lend you some of my mother's clothes. I'm sure they'll fit." Tezuka said, already starting to walk away.

"B-but are you sure it's okay…?" she stuttered, carrying Socks in her arms.

"Yeah."

* * *

They had just come from the Tezuka household where they were greeted with warm welcome. Tezuka's mother and grandfather bothered them with words of "Come again dear!", "Don't hesitate to pass by anytime!!" and "Don't forget to take care of Ranpo…er…Socks!!" when they were about to leave, and from the corner of his eye, Tezuka could see his father giving him a thumbs-up sign. _'Now what is that for?!?_' he thought, closing the door behind him.

By the time they reached Mia's apartment, it was already late. The streetlights were already starting to open one-by-one.

"Th-thanks again Senpai!" Mia stuttered, bowing her head.

"Hn. Just don't let your cat loose again." Tezuka replied, watching her fish something out of her pocket. "What's this?" he asked when she handed him a small envelope.

"It's to repay you for your help." She smiled, "Sorry if it's a bit blurry…It got sort of wet…you know, a while ago…" She explained, her voice fading as she remembered the incident that occurred.

"Oh…hn." He mumbled awkwardly. "You really don't have to." He said, straightening up.

"No, I insist!" she cried, "They're tickets for the music competition you see…I was wondering if you'd like to come with us…I've already invited Momo-senpai and Echizen-san…"

'_So that's what it was for…' _he sighed in relief as he remembered what Momo said before he and Ryoma ran away from them. He thought they had something else planned…like a date or something…_'Huh? Why am I so curious??' _he wondered.

"Anyway, good night Eyeglass-san! Thanks for everything and I hope you can come!!" she waved. Tezuka smiled inside, feeling strangely calm as he watched her enter the apartment with Socks running after her. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned away to go home.

From the unlit 2nd floor window, two deep bluish-gray eyes watched everything that happened with slight interest and urge to interfere. _'Something's up with those two…' _Kai thought, turning away from the glass and walking towards the door. _'Like I care…' _

_

* * *

_

**Yes! That's it for now!! (I'm sure you're all like staring at the screen thinking..."THAT'S IT!? THAT WAS SO FREAKIN' LONG AND ALL YOU SAY IS...'THAT'S IT'!?!?!) xDD**

**Forgive me~ (And sorry for grammar errors, I was rushing to post this!!)**

**I felt that I had to make up for the long wait and everything...so yeah!! Thanks for reading and everything!! Don't forget to review please!! (A Christmas gift for me? Lol joke!! No...seriously...D:)**

**Ah yeah, if I haven't mentioned this before, the song Mia sings in one of the previous chapters is "Home Sweet Home" by YUKI. I watched to movie where this song played earlier and I loved it lol!**

**Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!! (Now I have to sing for the choir...wish me luck!!)**

**Yours 'til the clouds aren't puffy anymore!!**

**kuripsu :D**


	17. The Competition

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Oh my gosh everyone!! Hi!! I miss FF!!

**I'M SSOOOOO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE IN A LONG, LOOONG WHILE. (The last time I ever posted in fanfic was...sobChristmas Day...Waaahhh!!**

**You see, several things have happened...as you can probably tell already...my school life is terrible...quizzes...unit tests...exams...projects due on the same day...oh yeah! And it was my birthday last Jan 29!! Yay!! (Lol random~~!)**

**So sorry for everything ILY all! Hope you enjoy Chap 17 and stuff! Sorry for any grammar errors, I was soooo excited to post this for you guys!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own POT. I own Kai, Ducky and Mia!! (Wooo~~ KAI!!! xDD) **

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Chapter 17: Competition Day~

"Nee, older sister…no one's around yet…" Kyle muttered, twirling around boredly in the center of the dimly-lit empty lobby. Aside from the two of them, the only other people were the guard and woman at the front desk, who gave them a curt bow of her head.

"Well…Kai told us we _had_ to be at least an hour early…" Mia replied unsurely, nodding back at the lady, "But…"

"But what?" Asked her little brother eagerly, waiting for something, anything interesting to happen.

"N-nevermind Kyle…" she murmured, looking out at the wide window to her right.

The noon sky was a clear blue and even though the sun was shining brightly, it shone in a way that it didn't hurt your eyes. There were no gray clouds in sight and a fine spring breeze danced around and beneath the leafy roofs of the tall green trees surrounding the RM Theater. The wind was strong enough to carry the relaxing music that would be played in the theater later that day, but soft enough just to brush a budding flower's petals ever so slightly.

It was Sunday, the day of the music competition well-known to most by now. The awkward incident that happened to both Mia and her senpai seemed like a distant memory to her now, even though she should have been reminded of it since the clear, sparkling water she was staring out from the window was the same one she fell in. In fact to her, it seemed as if it never even happened.

She straightened the light blue skirt she was wearing, it was of moderate length but… she didn't really like it since she thought it was a bit too revealing—her mother and Kyle said that she was overreacting. Then she adjusted the small matching ribbon on her blouse and head. Then she closed the buttons on the thin, black v-neck sweater she wore over the white fabric. She didn't want to wear it…she was forced…by her family…They said it made her look cute…She sighed and also started fixing Kyle's buttons on his black shirt. Apparently, the buttons were in the wrong holes. _'Typical little brother…_' she thought tenderly.

"Older sister~~!" He whined a little and pouted.

Mia watched calmly as her little brother ran up to the wide window and beside her.

"Older sister…I'm bored!" He complained as little kids often do. "Kai already left for his practice thingy so I can't play with him!" Kyle whined, pulling a certain white stuffed toy out of the red backpack. "Mr. Snufflie wants to go out!! Let's explore that place behind the theater like that woman said!" He added with a whisper.

"A-ah…yeah…sure." Mia recalled, pulling a piece of paper out of her skirt pocket.

* * *

The minute they stepped into the lobby of the theater, a short, pudgy man ran over to them and introduced himself as one of the hosts of the competition. He told them that the one explaining the rules was already there and was checking attendance and that Kai needed to be there right away. So without having time to reply, he grabbed Kai by the shirt collar and dragged him off to one of the unnoticeable left corridors behind the information desk. Mia and Kyle quickly inched towards the corner of the corridor but they couldn't see anything anymore. All they heard was Kai's protest of "Let me go! I can walk by myself you know!!" and the host's shushing and "Okay, okay then! We're almost there!!"

"Ack! Watch it!" they both heard Kai scream.

"GAH! Sorry!!" Kyle heard the man whimper. Then they both heard a loud thump from far away.

"Look." They heard Kai, his voice was dangerously low. Mia could imagine his two ice-cold eyes burning straight into the poor fat man's. "I don't care if you're the host or anything, but lay one more finger on me and I swear I'll—"Kai's voice was muffled when the two of them went farther away from where the other two were standing. A few more seconds passed the sound of a door closing and then silence.

"Mr. Anson (A/N: **Hahahahahahaa I couldn't think of any other name xDD**) is bringing your friend to the conference room, don't worry! Your friend will be going backstage after that to meet the judges, and after that he has one hour to get ready for the show." The woman at the desk piped up, smiling brightly at the two of them.

"Oh, alright then." Mia replied brightly.

"But older sister, what are we supposed to do while waiting for him? Ms. Lady said we have to wait for an hour!" Kyle whispered into Mia's ear.

Mia looked back up at the lady of the desk and asked if the stage was already open, so they can take a look around while no one was around yet.

"It's not yet open...but…" The woman on the desk held out a map towards the two. "Why not you two look around the grounds in the meantime? I'm sure you've noticed that these grounds are very big. In fact, we opened a new park in the back. Why don't you go and visit it?" she suggested with a smile.

* * *

The two of them stepped out into the warmingspring air. The calming sound of birds chirping was brought to their ears by the soft breeze that picked up.

"Wow!!" Kyle exclaimed, running out onto the small rocky path that would lead to the park behind. "Come on sis! We still have an hour right?" he looked back at Mia, who was still standing at the doorway behind, obviously amazed at the sight.

"H-hai!!" she stuttered, walking slowly out of the exit. The minute she stepped out of the dark hallway, the sun's heat bathed her in a warm, comforting light. _'This is a nice change from the cold weather we've having…Oh right…' _she recalled, walking alongside Kyle, "Spring is coming…" she whispered. "It's nice that the season's finally getting warm right?"

"Yeah!" Kyle cheered. "Oh look! There's the small park!!" he said, pointing to a large black gate just ahead.

"Th-that looks familiar…" Mia whispered, starting to recognize the detailed gate of the park she entered one week ago with Tezuka.

* * *

Kai looked longingly out of the window from the small room he was in and sighed. It was such a beautiful sunny day and he was stuck here in this small, soundproofed room, forced to practice.

"I practiced long enough in the house already…why must I go again??"

Outside he could hear the muffled sounds of singing birds. He looked out at the multiple yellow bricks paths forming small lines through the small flower bushes and stopping at the center and somehow he could imagine himself walking there with Kyle and Mia. _'Stupid…' _he thought, grimacing a little knowing that his face was feeling extremely warm. '_Stupid thoughts…stupid building…stupid room…' _He thought trying to distract himself by looking around at the almost bare (if not for the stool and music stand) room.

"It's too small." he muttered grumpily, placing his flute case on a small table in the corner that he only noticed now. He glanced to his right towards the window again. The soft sunshine and the gentle wind he noticed playing with the green leaves of the trees seemed to entice him to stop his practice and go outside.

"I wonder if…" he whispered, turning the latch and opening the large window. Just as he did, a refreshing breeze from outside brushed against the sides of his face.

"Much better." He murmured to no one in particular when the wind died down and then headed to his flute case on the table.

"Now I can work." He told himself rather brightly and assembled his flute then started his piece.

The peaceful notes of the piece Greensleeves hopped playfully on the wind as it was carried away to the outside world. It was the first thing that popped into his mind when he filled out the form for the second part of his competition. The theme was to play a song that would cheer you up in days of gray. He flushed a little as he blew on the mouthpiece, remembering the scene that played one evening outside his bedroom window. _'Where Mia was smiling in a new and strange way and that guy…'_ he thought almost regretfully. _'For some strange reason…I don't like that guy…I don't why but—' _His thoughts were interrupted when there came a knock from the door.

* * *

"Hey Sis, we killed more than 45 minutes of our time now! Shouldn't we be going back to the theater now?" Kyle asked, chasing a white butterfly that happened to pass by.

"You're right. Let's go back the way we came then?" Mia suggested, pointing to the path behind her with her thumb.

"Aww…but I still want to explore…" He fidgeted and glanced quickly to his side. He spied a small, heavily wooded dirt path leading towards another area. "Look over there! There's a path we haven't seen yet! Let's go!" And without waiting for his sister's reply, he ran past Mia and down that path.

"K-Kyle wait!!" She cried out and ran after him. "We have to go!!" she called out to him.

"Can't catch me!!" she heard him taunt before he disappeared behind a clump of bushes.

"That boy…" Mia muttered, exasperated. All of a sudden she tripped over a tree root.

"Ah!!" she exclaimed and clumsily fell face first on the ground.

"Owie…" she whined to herself softly, sitting up. She felt her ankle and a sharp pain came to her fast as a lightning bolt. It was a scratch, a pretty deep one at that. No blood was coming out yet, and it was still vaguely noticeable but she could tell that it soon would be since it was starting to turn a bright scarlet color. She looked back at the place where she tripped and found part of a sharp root jutting out of one of the cracks in the path. _'Heh…an example of erosion…'_** (A/N: That was our lesson in Science a few weeks ago…xDDDD)**she thought randomly and clutched the wound with a quivering hand. Mia winced but nevertheless pulled herself up to her feet.

"Now…to look for Kyle…"

* * *

'_Am I too early…?' _he asked worriedly, walking up the street towards the theater as if there was nothing wrong in the world, but inside, his mind was a complete disaster. He glanced at his watch for the nth time. _'No.' _he concluded, _'I'm not late' _He glanced up at the theater ahead and looked back down at his watch. _'Quit it!…I guess I'm just…' _he stopped walking and put his fingers to his temples as if he had a terrible headache. Some passersby saw him and stopped walking as well.

"Nee, isn't that Tezuka-sama?" one of them asked.

"Oh my gosh yeah! It's him!" squealed the other.

"Let's go greet him!!" the other girl finally piped up.

"Hello Tezuka-sama!!" the three of them squealed as they ran up to him.

Tezuka looked up at the three girls with a mix of annoyance and pure exasperation. Luckily, all these emotions were hidden behind the famous poker-face of his. He blinked and nodded at the three girls and then started to make his way. He didn't want to talk to them...he didn't feel like talking to them. He had some place to be after all…

"Waah…Tezuka-sama's so mean!!" one of them whined and ran after him.

"Yeah!! Come back here and talk to us~~!!" the other girl exclaimed, running in front of him and blocking his way with her arms spread apart.

"Please…" he murmured coolly. "I'm very sorry." He told them. "I have somewhere I need to be right now." And with no further wait for a reply, he went around the fangirl blocking his way and continued on his way.

"Chama's being mean to us today." The fangirls whispered to one another.

"There must be something wrong…He was in such a hurry…"

"Could it be a date?" One of them suggested.

The three of them glared after Tezuka's figure, a stain of jealousy obvious in their eyes.

"It must be that new student…Ishida…" They murmured. It's true that they had seen him walking her home several times…"What's up with her that makes her so special??" they grumbled and stalked off, letting their jealousy and anger seep in through their veins, piercing their hearts like a black needle.

* * *

The minute Tezuka entered the lobby, Mia and Kyle entered from the other entrance, looking rather flustered about something.

"Let's go sis! So we can get the good seats!" Kyle cheered softly and started to pull her sister towards the lady on the desk.

Mia looked around and saw that people were starting to enter the lobby, and most of them were already entering the theater. _'Yeah…we'd better get to our seats soon…they didn't reserve any seats for us did they?' _She thought looking around at the faces of the people as her little brother dragged her slowly to the 'desk lady'. From the corner of her eye, she saw a tall, familiar figure looking straight at the two of them.

"Momo-senpai!" she exclaimed softly and poked Kyle's shoulder gently. "Anou nee, Kyle, before we go to the lady, can we talk to that guy over there first?" she asked, her tone hushed, urgent and excited.

"The tall guy with the porcupine hair? Okay~" he replied rather cheerfully, almost seeming excited to put the idea of gaining new friends over entering the theater to get the 'good seats'.

"Yo Ishida!" Momo whispered when the two arrived in front of him. "Oh? Who's this? Your little brother?"

"Yeah, I'm Kyle!" The little boy replied, holding his hand out to Momo.

"Hello there! You can call me Momo!" he said, bending down and shaking Kyle's relatively small hand. The scene looked so cute that Mia couldn't help but giggle. From afar, a certain teenage boy watched them through rimmed spectacles with a certain longing obvious in his dark eyes.

"Why don't you go join them?" Came a soft, almost gentle voice from behind him.

"Fuji…!" he exclaimed softly when his fellow teammate appeared beside him. "What are you doing here?"

"Hah…Hello Buchou!" he greeted, also in a slightly hushed tone. The person who lined up in front of them stepped forward, leaving a space big enough for a person to squeeze through. "Mind if I cut here?" he asked Tezuka, smiling brightly. In return, he just nodded his head slightly and took a small step backwards to let Fuji through. "Thanks!"

"Nee, Buchou, you look great!" Fuji complimented as he looked at Tezuka's attire.

He was wearing a sky blue collared shirt under a white jacket and black slacks. He looked at the sleeve of his jacket for a brief moment and looked back up at Fuji.

"Hn." He replied, looking back at the direction of Momo, who was now pointing at the back of the line. Tezuka couldn't help but follow where his finger was pointing and turned his head around to see Ryoma standing near the end of the line with Sakuno blushing shyly by his side.

"Oh, so Echizen and Ryuzaki-san are here too!" Fuji laughed, "And it looks like Momoshiro and Little Ribbon have planned something out for them…" he said, handing his ticket over to the lady.

'_Little Ribbon…?' _

"Ja, let's go greet them!" Fuji said when Tezuka was done giving his ticket to the lady at the desk. Without waiting for a reply, Fuji went over to the two, leaving no choice for Tezuka but to follow.

"Ah, se-senpai-tachi! I'm so glad you guys c-came…!" Mia bowed slightly and took a step behind Kyle.

"Hm? Ribbon-chan, why are you hiding behind your little brother?"

"N-no…I'm not…Ah!" she gasped softly when she saw Tezuka standing behind Fuji. "Oh...

se-senpai... It's great th-that you could make it. I ha-haven't seen you since..." Her voice trailed off as her mind played the awkward scene that happened a week before. The two of them stood silently, looking away from each other self-consciously.

Fuji, sensing that something was strange was happening between them that moment, smiled knowingly and proceeded to break the silence, until the youngest kid piped up.

"Ne, ne! Sister's face is as red as a tomato!" Kyle laughed pleasantly as he pointed up to his startled sister's face.

"K-Kyle…" Mia whispered sheepishly and buried her face in her hands.

"Oh, you're right Kyle-kun!" Fuji said, taking Kyle's lead and distracting them. "Ribbon-chan's face _is _red!"

"Nee, Mr. Happy Face, how do you know my name?"

"Oh, I heard it before~ I also know that they call you Ducky!"

"!?"

Tezuka breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that the others were already distracted with Kyle's and Fuji's antics. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mia peek at him shyly through her fingers and saw through the small gaps that her cheeks were very red—just like a tomato—and then he started to wonder if his was as red as hers, or at least…beginning to become red, because it certainly felt that way. He gave a slight, hurried nod to her and turned around to leave but felt a small tug on his shirt before he could do that.

"Hey Megane-nii-chan, are you here to watch Kai play the flute?" Kyle asked him, his eyes looking up openly into his face.

His eyes flickered to Mia who was approaching him timidly for a moment and then looked back down at Kyle. "Yes I am…" He replied quietly.

"Yay!!" With a small cheer, the little boy pressed himself against Tezuka's torso for a tight hug.

"Kyle…!" Mia exclaimed and bowed apologetically when Kyle let go of him. "Sorry Senpai!!"

Tezuka straightened up and adjusted his glasses. He looked at Fuji and Momo who were snickering gleefully behind Mia and he gave them a warning glare. The two immediately kept quiet.

"It's alright." He said, looking back down at Kyle. "I guess I can understand how happy and excited you are now."

Kyle said nothing but gave him a bright smile. It seemed to Tezuka that he was really happy that he was there and so was Mia.

"Senpai, thank you so much for coming…I'm really glad you came…!" she whispered and smiled, confirming his thoughts. He recognized that smile as the one in the bus before and couldn't help but smile inside too.

"Yes…Ah…" He replied, closing his eyes so he wouldn't end up blushing. He opened them again a few seconds later to see that she was still in front of him, looking up at him with large brown eyes.

"What's up Senpai?" She asked him brightly.

But before he could reply, they heard Momo's loud voice ring out in the lobby. A few heads turned to the spiky haired boy as he hooted and looked at the boy who was approaching them now.

"Heeyyy!!! Takahata, looking good!!" Momo grinned widely as Kai came towards him. He had changed from the casual green sweatshirt he was wearing a while ago when he first entered into something much more formal. **(A/N: I'll leave you guys to imagine what he's wearing xD)**

"You're just jealous since it wouldn't fit into that big body of yours." Kai teased as he and Momo exchanged high fives.

"Kai~~" Ducky exclaimed and ran over to him and Momo. "You look…cool…" he murmured as he stared at Kai. He had obviously never seen his friend in formal wear before.

"Heh…" Kai chuckled and tousled Kyle's dark hair affectionately. "Yeah…thanks…"

Tezuka looked at Mia, wondering why she was suddenly quiet, to see that she was looking at Kai, an expression of wonder and pleasant surprise on her face. Under the soft lobby light, she seemed as if she was blushing, and her eyes looked as if they were twinkling. It was as if this was also the first time she'd seen Kai in formal wear and because of this, he started to feel strangely bothered again. He followed her unnervingly serene eyes to the pale boy standing a few feet in front of him, introducing himself to Fuji. A few words were exchanged between them, and then the boy looked up at him, the warmness in his eyes as he was greeting Fuji all gone now and replaced with a look of cold emptiness. He felt a flicker of vulnerability as Kai approached him, but it was gone the minute he was staring face-to-face with the defying, stubborn blue eyes and was replaced with a feeling of annoyance and competition.

They glared at each other for some time, each thinking about how irritating the other guy was. The other four watched them as they went on with their silent battle, oblivious to what was actually going on, but feeling a great weight suddenly drop on all of their shoulders. The feeling of heaviness was let out when Tezuka whispered something with one, long, cool breath.

"Good luck then." He murmured, glaring fixedly at Kai yet with no emotion present in his voice. But Kai knew better, and somehow Fuji figured it out as well.

"Thanks." Kai smirked, his true intentions also hidden in his expression. "But even without your words, I know I'm going to win. So…" he whispered smugly to only Tezuka but wasn't able to finish since a cheerful voice sang out from one of the speakers in the lobby.

"May all participants please come backstage now for a few final reminders from the Judges? Thank you!" A loud, cheery voice came from the loudspeaker, which was followed by a deeper, hoarser voice.

"Hey! We're not allowed here! Idiot, we're in a different story!" The other girl's voice said, obviously not noticing that the microphone was still on.

"But Ren!! I—"No one was able to hear what the girl was about to say since her voice was overrun by sounds of static, a few squeals of "Let me go!!", and the shuffling of footsteps as the two people were dragged out of the room by the security, leaving all the people around staring at the speaker dumbfoundedly for a brief moment before returning to their business.

Mia looked nervously at the two guys, not knowing what would happen next, expecting something bad to happen, but they said nothing more and separated. Her two 3rd year upperclassmen left the group, saying that they were going to sit together and try to get a good seat.

"Bye Little Ribbon and Ducky-chan!" Fuji bade them goodbye cheerfully as he followed Tezuka into the theater. "See ya later Momo…and Takahata-san, ganbatte!"

"Bye!" They all exclaimed at the same time except Kai who gave him a brief nod.

"Saa Takahata, do your best and don't screw up on stage, or else I'll laugh at you!" Teased Momo, starting to head into the theater as well.

"Hah, I won't screw up. So you don't have to worry your little spiky head about anything." He smirked in reply and watched the crowd as they all flooded into the theater. He glanced to his side and saw Mia standing right beside him, watching the people as well.

"Well Kai…" She looked up at him with peaceful brown eyes. Her face seemed as if it was glowing. "Good luck~!"

* * *

**Okay!! That's it for now!!**

**It looks like things are heating up for Eyeglass-san and Kai eh? Well yeah~~!! You'll be seeing a lot more KxM parts in the upcoming chapters! I hope you'll like them too!**

**Yeah and you know what's funny? Strangely I've been getting letters from people who prefer Kai over Tezuka and their messages are pretty funny~! It seems that they all like Kai a lot better since they imagine him to be like idk...really hot?? O_o**

**Hahaha~ In fact, there's a fanclub at school already about him!! :D (Credits to...Kyara for that xDD)**

**And if you guys wanna see how my OCs look like, you can check out my deviant! It's _7thholyscripture _but apparently, I only have like...one drawing of them so far...and that's a photo taken when they were like...younger...**

**The scanner doesn't want to work!! WAAAHHHHH!!!! But I made tons more...sob**

**Anyways, thanks for reading/reviewing/adding this to your favorites and supporting my fic all the way! Don't forget to review 'cause it really inspires me!! **

**I hope you won't have to wait long for the next one to come out! It all depends on the school schedule...yep...the school schedule...emoness....**

**I'm not a rabbit!! Or a gun for that matter!! See ya guys later!**

**-kuripsuthebunny**


	18. All Locked Up! Part 1

**Yoness!! K-Bunny here!!**

**Yeah so guys, sorry I posted...SOOOOOOO late. You know, busy and all...exams...graduation practice....(Oh!! Graduation's on Monday!! Wish us luck please~~!) and whatnot so I hope you guys understand!!**

**Due to the lack of time...(lol I don't want to be formal D:) I wasn't able to completely finish this chapter, so I cut the chapter in two...at a cliffhanger xD And I'll just post the next part later on and do what I did like in chapter 8 xD**

**So expect part 2 soon, 'cause it's nearly summer here!! (Woohoo!! Wait...AGH SIMS 2!! Not that!!)**

**I know you waited long, so I'll cut the chit-chat and go straight to the chappie!! Hope you enjoy~~!!**

* * *

Chapter 18: All Locked Up!

"_Saa Takahata, do your best and don't screw up on stage, or else I'll laugh at you!" Teased Momo, starting to head into the theater as well._

"_Hah, I won't screw up. So you don't have to worry your little spiky head about anything." He smirked in reply and watched the crowd as they all flooded into the theater. He glanced to his side and saw Mia standing right beside him, watching the people as well. _

"_Well Kai…" She looked up at him with peaceful brown eyes. Her face seemed as if it was glowing. "Good luck~!" _

* * *

Mia, Kai and Ducky stepped through two large double doors and entered a long dimly lit place with long, dark blue curtains, lights, ropes and workers everywhere—backstage.

"There you are!" Cried a blonde-haired boy about the same age as Kai as he stomped over to them. "We were looking for you! A few minutes more and that guy would've gotten mad!" He sighed and dumped his flute case in his arms.

"Hey! Careful Mike…!" Kai muttered and fixed the bag. "Yeah, sorry for being late…" His voice trailed away as he looked back at the door they entered through.

"Haha! Is it me or do I finally hear you apologizing??" The boy named Mike laughed and waved at Mia and Kyle, who waved back.

"What's wrong Kai?" Kyle sounded, looking up at Kai's face questioningly. "You keep glancing back at the door!" he pointed out.

"I…forgot something." He answered unsurely, staring back at the large red double doors.

"What?"

"…I left my bag in the supply closet." He replied, no emotion present in his voice.

"…"

"KAI!!!" the three of them scolded him at the same time, "HOW COULD YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT!??!?"

"…I just did."

"Gah!!" Mike moaned then looked up at Kai. "The show starts in less than 5 minutes!!"

Kai just stared at the three of them blankly.

"Kai…" Mia sighed and started heading back towards the door. "Okay fine, I'll get it. Where did you say it was again?" she asked, opening the door.

"But Mia…!" Kai started, but just as he was about to go to her, Mike grabbed him by the elbow and started dragging him towards one of the backrooms.

"He said the supply closet!!" Ducky piped up and followed Mike back to the back rooms as Mia ran out to the lobby.

"The one nearest the lobby!! Just ask the lady at the desk!!" Kai cried out reluctantly before Mia closed the door behind her.

"Okay little buddy, let's bring this monkey to the meeting room to get ready while your sister gets his bag!!" Mike smiled at Ducky while pushing Kai into the half open doorway.

"Hey!! Watch it!!" Kai exclaimed angrily since Mike hit him on the side by accident.

Someone from the backstage crew gave them a warning look and made a loud shushing sound.

"Sorry!" Both Mike and Kai exclaimed, and then Mike gave a big shove to his friend's back. "Get in!!"

"Gah!"

"Kyle just wait here okay?" Kyle heard Kai's muffled command as he was pushed into the room by his happy-go-lucky friend.

"Be right back!" he heard Mike's happy voice before the door closed shut.

* * *

"Supply closet…supply closet…Where are you…?" Mia whispered to herself as she ran back down the corridor going back to the lobby. She spotted a nearby janitor mopping the marble floor and decided to ask where the closet was found.

"Oh…You passed by the bathrooms right?" The old man croaked, putting down his mop for a minute. "It's near there, just there near the potted plant, turn left and you're there." He told her, wiping some sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

"Yay! Thank you Mr. Janitor!!" Mia thanked him and went back to the corridor with the bathrooms.

"What a nice young girl." The janitor mused as he went back to his work. "Ah the youth today…" He sang as he pushed the mop forward and backward. "The children who love listening to classical music and hanging around supply closets~~" He cheered happily. "Huh? Wait a minute…"

"Wait a minute—!!" his voice cut short as he looked back up to the direction where Mia headed, but she was no longer there. "…"

"I forgot to tell her that the closet door has a problem…!" He turned back to look at his reflection in the now-polished floor. "…Oh well, back to work!!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the other three had been assigned seats near the front and to the extreme right that were surprisingly right beside each other.

"Oh? So you guys are here too huh?" Fuji chuckled as he took his seat.

"Yeah." Momo answered while Tezuka just nodded.

"Huh?" The brown haired tensai looked at their direction for a short moment and his eyes opened ever so slightly as he noticed something.

"Senpai what is it?" Momo asked, concerned why Fuji opened his eyes in a place other than the tennis court.

Tezuka noticed that the reason why Fuji had opened his eyes was because he was staring at him in a bemused way.

"Fuji." He started.

"What is it Buchou?" he replied, still staring at him in that amused, almost disturbing way.

"May I ask why you are staring at me in that…(_unsettling)_…way…?"

"Ah, yes…uh…Momo, maybe you can explain?" Fuji quickly added, dragging his kohai into the scene. "Take a look at his face."

"Huh, wha--?" The spiky-haired teen motioned almost dumbly. He shifted his body and looked at his captain's face. A clear streak of red crossed his face as if some 8-year old painter **(DUCKY!!! xDDD) **had accidentally made a stroke there.

"Whoa!! Buchou's blushing!!!" He exclaimed, unable to hide the happy, surprised tone in his voice. "This is sooo cool!!"

"I'm…blushing…?" Tezuka muttered, putting a hand to his face. It felt hot alright…but was he really blushing? He suddenly felt a fleeting moment of self-consciousness. "Fuji, Am I?" he asked him, sounding and looking very nervous in Fuji's eyes.

'_Ah…Silly Captain…' _Fuji smirked, watching the unseen embarrassment burning slowly onto Tezuka's face with mild amusement. _'Ah yes…reserved on the outside but if you hit him with just the right thing…I might have to discuss something with Momo about the bet…hmm…Now to get Buchou out…'' _Fuji smiled and shook his head.

"Buchou, why don't you just check for yourself in the mirror?" He suggested instead of replying. "I saw the boys' room going here. It's somewhere to the right…near the supply closet I think."

"Ah...yes." Tezuka murmured, standing up from his seat and starting to head out of the theater.

"Alright Buchou!! We'll be saving this seat for ya!!" Momo whispered cheerfully to his captain as he exited the back door.

"Shh…! Momo, it's not as if anyone's gonna get it anyway!!" Fuji shushed him as he looked around the crowd and spotted Ryoma and Sakuno sitting somewhere near the front. Right behind them, two empty seats. "Come on Momo," he said all of a sudden, "Let's move closer to the front. I want to hear the music better." He stood up and made his way to the aisle. Momo stood up slowly and followed after him, swerving to avoid a fat woman making her way to the seat beside his old one, all this time wondering what his wily senpai was up to. From the corner of his eye, he could see him pull out a very small microphone out of his pocket.

'_Se-senpai?!' _

* * *

Tezuka stepped out of the comfort room with a heavy sigh. His face wasn't pink…well…Maybe he was and it just faded along the way to here…

"_Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 48__th__ annual Karpfen-Taunes International Youth Music Competition. This afternoon, a few of the greatest young musicians around the world have come to play for us. But let me remind you all, that this is a competition. Each musician has placed their hearts into each piece they would play. They have readied day and night for this fateful event...." _The speakers blared from somewhere down the dimly-lit corridor.

'_It's starting already…' _He turned around slowly to go back to the main theater when a small, indistinct sound was carried to his ears. A small thump and a few shuffling sounds coming from somewhere to his right. _'What could that be…?' _he thought, clearing all thoughts from his head and concentrating on the sound he was hearing now. He stepped a few steps to the wall beside him and put his ear to it. The shuffling sounds were coming from there, he concluded. The sounds of someone moving heavy things around filled his ears as he started to follow the noise. All of a sudden, his eyes widened as he heard an all-too-familiar yelp.

Curiosity overpowering him, he ran down the corridor as he followed the sound. He turned the corner to find a dead-end with a small half opened door on it. Judging from the style of the door, it looked like a supply closet. He placed his hand on the edges of the door and opened it slightly, just enough to take a peek inside. It took him a while to get his eyes adjusted to the new darkness. Above, the small light bulb flickered rapidly and after a final flash, it froze in a weak light.

His attention switched from the light to a figure standing not too far from him.

"Almost there…" He heard her whisper softly to herself as she reached for something he couldn't see.

He squinted a little and he could see that she was standing on tip-toe on a stool that probably made the shuffling sounds that he heard a while ago. Mia was stretching her arm upwards, trying to reach out for something on the top shelf and she looked as if she was having a really hard time.

* * *

"Almost…just a little more…" Mia coaxed herself under her breath. She was glad that no one was here to see how hard a time she was having. _'Waah…' _a small voice moaned in her head, _'Why am I so short…?' _

She could see the bag. The pine green messenger bag that carried so many memories of her and Kai when they were younger. _'Why did he leave something as precious as this here?' _A thought suddenly crossed her mind and she stopped trying to reach it. All of a sudden, a deep feeling of sadness appeared in her heart and she stopped completely, staring blankly at the shelf top, unaware of everything around her.

"Ishida." He stated rather loudly out of nowhere.

'_!?' _She turned around almost immediately and looked at him with a startled expression on her face. "Eyeglass-san!!" she cried and lost her balance on the stool she was standing on.

'_!!' _Tezuka reacted before he could think. He rushed behind her at the split second she stepped back, ready to catch her if she fell…and without surprise, she did. :D

"W-watch out!!" she exclaimed as she collided into his chest and pushed him backwards, making him hit the door.

'_CRASH!!' _

A sharp pain shocked Tezuka's head. He heard the door behind him slam shut as he fell down. Boxes containing miscellaneous pieces of junk and equipment related to music or not rained down on them. He could hear their loud and heavy thumps on the ground so by pure instinct he bent down and grabbed hold on Mia and pulled her closer to him, protecting her.

'_Se-senpai…!!' _Her heart raced as she felt his warm breath blowing on her hair above. :D

All of a sudden, she saw a blur of black pass just a few inches beside her head, and she heard a loud thump. For the boy above, the last thing he heard was the sound of his quick, fluttering heartbeat against his chest before he saw a long black figure racing towards his head and everything went black.

* * *

The next thing he knew, he heard the sound of a piano playing some light melody. It was peaceful and quiet yet it seemed as if it was coming from somewhere far away. He relaxed and listened to the calm music that reminded him of rain. A few moments passed and he thought that he could also hear something else. It seemed more distant, and fainter than the music playing. He could hear someone's voice. It seemed to be calling him…

"Senpai…"

"Hn."

"Senpai…wake up please!!"

"…Mmph…"

"Se-senpai!!"

Tezuka opened his eyes slightly to see a pair of soft brown eyes looking down at his face. When he opened them a little wider, the worried expression of the eyes relaxed.

"Thank goodness…" Mia sighed and shuffled back as she made space for her senpai to sit up straight, "How are you feeling?" she asked him softly.

Tezuka blinked rapidly and looked around for a moment. Everything behind Mia seemed blurry and out of focus. A feeling of vertigo passed over him after a slight sense of dizziness appeared. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers while he waited for the feeling to pass by, that's when he realized that the reason he was feeling was because he wasn't wearing his glasses at all.

"Ah…here you go!" Mia whispered when she saw that he was looking for it and handed his glasses over.

"Hn…Thanks…" He murmured back and when his fingers touched her hand at the moment he got his glasses from her, his face felt warm again.

Mia smiled weakly and moved farther way from him so that he could sit properly. "Thanks for…catching me…" she mumbled and looked away embarrassedly as if she remembered something not so pleasant.

"What's the matter?" He asked cautiously, noticing this as he put his glasses back on. _'Ah…this feels better…' _he thought as he looked around at the now messy storeroom. The boxes filled with random junk both big and small littered the floor like scattered confetti. Some boxes were fortunate enough to have tape on and still keep their contents back inside while others were not so lucky. Their dusty contents spilled forth from their opened, torn tops or bottoms like vomit.

Glancing at the tall shelf in front of him before his eyes rested on a blushing Mia, he saw that almost everything was askew. The stool she had been standing on a while ago had been turned upside-down, handles of mops and brooms were scattered above, forming some sort of makeshift tent on top of them. Tezuka breathed a small sigh of relief that no one got hurt…well…seriously at least…

He rubbed his aching head slightly and turned to Mia to listen to her speak.

"W-well…" She started, not taking her eyes off the floor. From outside, the music reached its crescendo and fell back slightly to a softer tone, but it still kept its rapid beat. She gulped and closed her eyes tightly. "N-no…it's nothing!!" She looked at him, her face redder than a tomato. "Really!!"

* * *

Kai whipped his head from side to side, concern and tension gradually appearing over his face. There was still no sign of Mia, and it had been more than enough time for her to get the bag and return backstage. He was sitting on one of the folding chairs backstage, waiting for his turn to go onstage. Behind the curtains, on stage, the light and playful notes of a piano piece danced around in the background.

'_She probably just got lost again!!' _He thought, pure irritation present on his face now. He crossed his legs and unconsciously started shaking his foot in impatience and uneasiness.

"Kai," Mia's little brother whispered from the seat beside him, "Why are you pouting?" He asked, swinging his dangling feet idly around as he talked. "Are you worried about Older Sister~?"

"Wha…?" Kai stopped moving completely looked at him for a split second, a look of mild surprise and puzzlement passing over his face for a second. All of a sudden, he looked away.

"I'm not." He replied quietly after a while, "I'm just…nervous." Then he bowed his head, resting it in the palms of his hands to cover his face and kept completely still.

Though his dark hair and hands covered a large part of his face, Ducky saw him do something he never, ever saw him do before. He saw his face turn a deep shade of scarlet.

* * *

Mia felt her face grow hot when she saw from the corner of her eye that her senpai was looking straight at her. His sharp russet eyes seemed to burn right through her and see exactly what she was thinking, but truthfully they didn't. She gulped a little when she felt that his commanding glare was pressuring her to tell him what happened, when in reality he was actually trying his best to look at her gently.

"Se…senpai…" Mia murmured, looking away slowly, still feeling his gaze on her. "R-really…It's nothing..." she stuttered, tightening her grip on Kai's bag. "But...I think we're locked in..."

* * *

**Yes yes!! That's it for now!! Wait for the upcoming part 2!! Uh... ehm... it might take a while... (Nah kidding, I made a promise to post really fast this summer!!) **

**Sorry for any typos and grammar errors 'cause I was in a hurry to post this so I didn't have time to give it to my editor... :P**

**Also for the name of the music competition...there's a long story behind that name and I'd like to share it with you...but m****y darn brother is practically pushing me off the chair now!! Dx**

**Maybe in part 2 I'll tell you guys~~! Remind me :))**

**Night-night and chee ya!!**


	19. All Locked Up! Part 2!

**OH...MY...PIE!! Dx**

**DUDES. Sorry!! I'm SO sorry I haven't been able to update for...I dunno...A LONG TIME!! Summer does to me you see...I got sidetracked...trying to repair my DS...and then when it was finallly repaired, I got addicted to Phoenix Wright...and Elite Beat Agents...and Kirby!! Oh, and being forced by my little cousins to watch Hi-5 and Barney...every...single...day... D:**

**WAH...SO SORRY!!**

**Anyways, I won't keep you guys waiting any longer, here's the 2nd part to Chappie 18...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own POT, I do own my OCs, and I do have the IQ of a 4 year old now! 8D**

* * *

Chapter 18 Part 2:

"Locked in…?" Tezuka repeated, just to make sure what he heard was correct. He sat up and pushed the makeshift tent of mops and brooms away, letting light coming from the small boarded-up window filter through. The tiny beams of sunlight seeped in through the cracks in the wood and settled on his lap and on the top of Mia's head.

The music behind ended in one loud finish and the crowd's equally loud applause was heard through the speaker somewhere outside.

"Y-yes…" She replied when the applause was no longer heard and replaced by a few announcements and looked up at the door, a look of worry planted on her face.

He too looked back at the door, waited a while and stood up slowly. From the corner of his eye, he saw her get up too, but before he could get up to his knees, a sharp jolt of pain cracked through his head again and the familiar feeling of vertigo happened again. He slumped back down on the floor and clutched his head.

"Se-Senpai…!" He felt her drop to the floor beside him.

"Are you okay??" He heard her exclaim, new worry present in her voice. He didn't like her getting even more worried than she was now so he quickly thought of some way to cheer her up and reassure her. He wasn't used to this but…

"Yeah, don't worry…" He tried his best to give a sincere smile, but even though he did, he felt as if he was taunting her or something. _'Why does this feel so…awkward…?' _Adrenaline rushed to his cheeks and he bowed down again to hide his reddening face.

'_This must be his first time in a long time…' _Mia thought, seeing the embarrassment in his face as he smiled, _'At least he's giving his best…!' _she smiled and looked at him, still facing down. She had to admit…it was kind of cute…She giggled.

Tezuka looked up slowly to see her laughing slightly. It relieved him so much that she wasn't or at least not as worried as before. He smiled inside as the now more frequent feeling of warmth came over him again. He sort of got used to it now…only…each time it seemed more comfortable and it made him feel dizzy at times… But one thing was for sure, smiling was easier when he was smiling to himself…

A polite noise behind him snapped him back into reality. He turned his head slightly to see through the faint light of the closet that Mia was reaching for whatever she was reaching for a while ago, only now it was just across them. A dark green shadow passed by him as she made a quick snatching action and lay whatever it was on her lap carefully. She gave a small sigh of relief and tightened her grip on the bundle of cloth before noticing his questioning gaze on both.

"Ah…! It's Kai's." she murmured, slowly remembering that the two didn't like each other that much…

"Hn." He mumbled in understanding. '_So it was Takahata's?'_ He thought, standing up and starting to clear out the random junk to make space. It made him wonder why he'd send her to do it instead of himself…He grumbled soft enough so she wouldn't hear and suddenly felt foolish. He just couldn't get why he was so annoyed. After all, it _was_ just a simple favor…

"Is there anything wrong senpai?" She asked him, taking hold of a nearby box and kneeling down to stuff the fallen objects back inside.

No reply.

Mia sighed and decided not to push it any further. It was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it or smile anymore. Instead, she concentrated on helping him make a little bit more space for the two of them to move around freely…to some extent. But a few moments passed and she started to feel as if the darkness was creeping about from all around her, so she started to make small talk.

"Weather's great today isn't it?"

"Really? I didn't notice."

She frowned slightly at how blunt the guy seemed to be right now and decided to change the subject.

"Nee, senpai…" She started, pushing a box into one of the shelves.

"What is it?" Tezuka asked, finishing up his side and starting to pick up the ruined equipment near Mia.

"Performer # 2, Lauren Reeves. Performing, Pachelbel's Canon." The speakers blared from outside.

"How do you suppose we should get out of here?" She asked as she gave the last remaining box to Tezuka and watched him put it on the highest part of the shelf. _'How tall is he anyway…?' _she thought all of a sudden.

She watched curiously as he took a look around the closet for a while and looked back at her. Behind them, somewhere outside, the quiet wail of a violin started its prose.

"I don't see any openings…" He said thoughtfully before heading to the closet door. "Are you sure it's really locked?" He asked, walking to the door.

'_Don't tell me he's going to scr—'_

Without waiting for a reply, he closed his hand over the handle and pulled. It wouldn't budge. He pulled on it a little harder, twisting it this way and that until finally he heard a small click.

Mia walked up to him and looked up expectantly at him. He could see the small marks of relief and anticipation flowing back into her expression. He nodded at her and twisted the doorknob, eagerly awaiting the soft light of the corridor to flood through the doorway and into the closet.

Nothing happened. It was still locked.

He closed his eyes and frowned. He was not expecting that. He started to bang on the door, Mia stood beside and tried to help, but it was of no use. No one could hear them because of the music.

"I don't think anyone's going to come out until the performance ends." He muttered, "Unless we're lucky enough that someone steps outside and hears us…"

"But probably not." She piped up behind him rather positively. "We'll have to wait for the show to end then…"

Behind, he heard her give a small sigh of despair and looked back to see her return to the bag on the floor.

All this for that bag, he smirked to himself and sat across from her.

* * *

"That stupid girl…" Kai muttered crossly to himself as he entered one of the rooms backstage. He had just found out that he was still going to perform the last…

"_There's nothing much to do right now then." He told the stage manager._

"_H-Huh?" She stuttered, a small girl with freckles across her face and large rimmed glasses that seemed to slide off her nose all the time. _

'_Guess she isn't used to...his personality yet…' Ducky thought giving one last look at the small girl before going after Kai who already left. _

"What are we going to do now Kai?"

The tall boy looked at his friend's younger brother, a dull and lifeless look in his azure eyes.

"…Wha?"

"You know…still performing last and all…shouldn't you be taking this time to practice?"

"Practice?"

"Uh-huh!"

He watched his older friend look up as if he was thinking.

"Nope, don't think I need to." He said tersely after a while. With that he exited the door and headed out backstage again.

"Wait, Kai!" Ducky half-called half-whispered to his friend before running after him again.

Later on, Kai tried to go out the door leading back to the lobby to look for his bag himself, but the door was blocked by cameramen and lighting equipment that he didn't notice enter.

"Maybe 'cause you were…nervous?" Ducky laughed.

"Shut up." He snapped back. "I just want my bag."

* * *

Mia closed her eyes and pressed Kai's bag against her chest. This wasn't going to be easy, she thought. She was trapped alone with a guy she barely knew in a closet somewhere people would take forever to find…in every uncomfortable and silent second that passed in there, she felt more and more claustrophobic and lonely…and to top things off, she was scared of the dark.

'_Just glad that the light is still working…' _She thought, looking up weakly at the already dim light which had now burned into a small, pathetic ember. She tried to think of happy things, but each time she succeeded, the light flickered violently enough to scare her back to reality. _'I really want to get out of here…!' _

'_I just wish he'd start talking or something…'_

"Nee…Senpai…"

"…Yes?"

All of a sudden, the light went out, and at the same time, something seemed to block out the sunlight from coming into the room. Everything was completely dark and still.

She felt as if the already eerie darkness around the room grew more mysterious and sinister with each passing second. It felt as if it was creeping all around her…

Tezuka noticed that Mia had gone quiet all of a sudden and started to wonder if every thing was alright.

"…Ishida, are you okay?" he asked cautiously, making sure she was still there.

No reply.

"Ishida-san…?" He asked louder this time.

It took her a while to realize that he was calling out to her.

'_Thank you senpai!' _she thought. The sick feeling in her gut disappeared immediately after hearing his voice. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a small, unheard croak. _'Ah!! What...what was that?!?!?' _

He shuffled around uncomfortably. He had this nagging feeling that he knew why she wasn't responding at all. It made him feel heavy to find out that that was the only reason she wasn't talking to him. He got up to his knees and started to move towards her.

All of a sudden, she felt a slight movement to her right and looked up to see her senpai sitting right beside her, the deep concern in his russet eyes were hidden in the shadows.

"Se-senpai…" she managed to whisper. She thought of saying something for a moment, but crossed it out of her mind. "Arigatou…"

He said nothing but nodded in reply and looked straight ahead at the darkness.

The heavy cloud blocking the sunlight moved on to follow its other friends in the sky, allowing a few fragile shafts of light back into the storeroom. From the corner of his eye, he saw the ghost of a relieved smile appear at the corners of her lips and saw her retreat to a more relaxed position. It took him a while before he noticed that there were small glistening tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

'_But that won't happen again. I'll be here.' _

Somehow, he couldn't take his eyes off her, just in case he felt she needed something again. Something bothered him…He wanted to say something…

"Ishida-san…" He started.

"Yes…?" She looked up at him curiously, her usually bright eyes misty in the pale sunbeam.

Without saying anything, he stretched his hand out and wiped away the stray tear that formed a while ago because of fright.

Mia gasped softly and looked at Tezuka, a half-surprised, half-embarrassed expression on her already-blushing face.

"It'll be okay." He told her, withdrawing his hand and looking intently at her. His usual stern features were now so gentle…and his usually intimidating eyes were now so filled with sincerity…

She felt her heart skip a beat. _'Senpai seems… a lot more open today…' _She wanted to tell him…but…

She shook her head quickly and gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you…senpai…"

* * *

A while later…in a room somewhere backstage…

Ducky watched as his friend paced around the small room in what looks like to be a mixed feeling of worry and impatience, an amused grin plastered on his face.

Kai stopped and looked at the clock, then at the little boy on the stool. "Hey Ducky, I'm performing soon right?"

He watched as Kyle took out a sheet of paper from his backpack. "Thank you Mr. Snufflie~" He heard him say and clear his throat before he looked back up at his raven-haired friend.

"According to the program…and what that girl said before…I'd say….yeah." He looked at Kai and waited for him to say something.

Nothing.

"You'll be performing right after Mike's classical guitar! Isn't that great? You're the last performer!"

Still nothing, just that glassy stare into nothingness.

"Kaiii!!!!"

The bored blue eyes looked up at him and expected him to continue. "Is anything the matter?" Kai asked him, leaning against a ridiculously high table and resting his cheek on his hand.

"Well…just thought you'd be hyped about the performance and all," Kyle muttered as he twiddled his fingers with embarrassment, "I mean…the saying…best for last…"

He looked up at his friend again, waiting for him to do something. Moments passed and nothing happened until a startled look of realization appeared on Kai's face.

"Yes, the best for last!" He exclaimed all of a sudden.

Mia's little brother looked up, startled by the sudden outburst. "What do you mean Kai?"

"I have to give the audience the best, and the piece I chose…It's not the best at all!!"

"Huh? Wait. Don't tell me…"

A look of alien excitement appeared in Kai's face as he grinned unexpectedly and looked at Ducky.

"I think I'm going to change my piece...!"

* * *

"Now for our final performer, Takahata Kai, performing—"

Kai tapped the shoulder of the announcer and shook his head softly at him, placing a finger to his lips in a movement of silence.

The announcer was taken aback at this but nevertheless followed him and let him pass. _'I wonder what he means by this…?' _

The minute he stepped onto the polished stage and into the lone spotlight, he could see the puzzled yet expectant faces of the judges in front of him. They too were probably surprised by the announcer's sudden cut.

This was it. He took a deep breath, all eyes were on him. _'Let's not keep them waiting, shall we?'_

From behind the curtains, Kyle was crossing his fingers and looking as worried as can be. "I hope this works!!" he whispered.

Everything was quiet….and then the first trill was played. Quick and full of energy. The audience was blown back by his high-spirited opening. The strange anxiety he felt a few minutes ago was completely transformed into a very strong sense of vigor and exuberance.

"Strange!" One of the judges declared softly, "This isn't the piece he submitted to us!"

"Hm?" Replied the other, "You're right!"

The other two judges shushed them and gave them each an annoyed look.

"Quiet down! I'm trying to listen! This boy is really something!"

The other one nodded in agreement before turning back to the flautist on stage.

His willowy fingers jumped lithely on each key as he puffed out quick shallow breaths to match the quick beat and high pitch of the piece.

"Hey, Fuji-senpai." Momo said quiet for once, "Takahata's really good isn't he…?"

Fuji nodded, eyes closed and listening to the music.

With every crisp note played, they could feel his energy pounding on each one, animating them as they rose in majestic flight. It made the audience's hearts jump with every glittering note that twirled and pranced on the light and teasing melody.

As he finished his final note, a satisfied smirk spread across his face and he looked up at the audience, his usually cold blue eyes filled with something else this time…

Without waiting for anything else, he bowed and left the stage, giving himself a small chuckle when he heard the audience's sudden outburst of applause and cheering.

His performance made the audience's hearts soar with joy…they gave him a standing ovation. You could see the smiles and expressions of wonder on their faces…it seemed as if they had really loved it…

"Way to go Kai!" Ducky exclaimed when he finally saw him emerge from the small crowd of musicians backstage, "You were awesome!"

Kai bopped his friend's head lightly and nodded. "Hmm... It was okay I guess..."

Then the two of them sat on the chairs laid out backstage, waiting for the results.

* * *

The minute the announcements were over, Kai bid goodbye to his fellow competitors and headed outside, with Ducky trailing behind him.

The lobby was filled with people, all abuzz over the outstanding performances that they had just witnessed. Behind, through the large latticed windows, the scarlet sun was at its peak over the sparkling indigo water. The sky seemed to spread like an almost pink canvas behind the beautiful sunset.

The two of them looked carefully around the sea of people for a certain brunette, but all they could see were the different faces of the unknown background community… **(Sorry. Ran out of ideas xD)**

The little boy looked up worriedly at his friend. "Hey…I can't find sis anywhere…" His small hand gripped tightly at Kai's.

Kai shook his head a little and opened his mouth slightly to say something but before he could reply, a loud voice rang out from behind them.

"Takahata!" Cried the unmistakable voice of a spiky-haired teenager "Yo!!"

It was shortly followed by a small shushing sound as the two figures came closer to them.

"Remember what I told you about shouting?" They heard the familiar quiet voice say as they got closer.

"Sorry!!"

Momo and Fuji appeared before them, looking slightly amazed and happy to see them.

"Congratulations on your performance Takahata-san." The brown-haired tensai said and shook hands with Kai.

"Yeah, you were awesome…too bad that you were last place…" Momo added wistfully. "Why did the judges…oh yeah." He looked at Kai sheepishly.

"Nah, it's fine." The flutist replied, an amused smile playing along the corners of his lips, "I changed my piece at the last minute…I understand the judge's decision… y'know…criteria and all…"

"But really… Your playing amazed me."

"Heh, thanks."

Then Momo noticed something strange.

"Hey," He started after a short pause, "I haven't seen any of the other performers around."

Sure enough, it was true. There was a large crowd in the lobby sure, but none of the crowd members included the participants in the competition. Why was Kai the only one out?

Kai noticed the puzzled expression on his face and realized what he was thinking.

"Oh." He explained, "I asked for an early leave."

The two other people's curiosity got the better of them.

"How come?" They asked almost at the same time, and ended up looking at each other, a bit surprised.

"Well…I'm kind of looking for something…" He then cleared his throat in a way that Ducky noticed seemed annoyed. "…Someone." He added almost reluctantly.

No one noticed as Fuji's eyes opened slightly in interest, a small spark of realization in them. "Could it be Little Ribbon?"

'_Little Ribbon…?' _Kai thought when he heard the nickname. He almost had to stop himself from laughing. Before anything could happen, he cleared his throat and replied. "Yeah, her…"

Not the reaction Fuji was hoping for. He made a mental note of that and decided to tackle it later with the two other members of the bet…

"Ah! Fuji-senpai!" Momo exclaimed, "Isn't Buchou missing as well?"

Fuji's attention shifted from Kai's uncaring reaction to the nickname to his panicking kohai.

"Hmm…come to think of it…he is, isn't he?"

"That's weird then!" The littlest member piped up at last. "Sis and Megane-nii-chan are missing… and at the same time too~!"

At Kyle's statement, the two started eyeing each other suspiciously, each of them starting to think about the bet.

"He's missing too huh?" Kai wondered aloud, his face looking slightly puzzled, but showing no alarm at all. In Fuji's opinion, he didn't seem too bothered by the fact that the two were missing and probably together by now.

"Last we saw Buchou was when he checked—"Momo started, but was cut off by Fuji's warning smile.

"He probably just got lost…" He said, his silent threat slowly fading as he faced the two other members of the party. "Well then Takahata-san, I guess we'll be leaving now; we have to look for our lost captain. "Ja!"

"Bye then!" Momo added, and with Kai's nod and Ducky's small wave, they parted ways.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER!! AGAIN!!**

**Okay, that's it for now, sorry it was long...and sorry if there was anything that annoyed you in anyway...oh and if the characters were OOC...**

**...That's a lot of sorries. Waiiit...is that the plural form of sorry!?!? GAH. Summer, you've completely melted my brain. **

**Oh, and the piece Kai played? Will be revealed in the next chappie~! **

**Thanks for taking the time to read~! I can't say when the next chappie will be out though, you know me...but I'll try my best and post it soon! **

**Now if only I can get rid of this writer's block...-_-lll**

**-What's my username again...??** **xD**


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